Theater originated with technology. People forget that.

Hear now the words of Robert Lepage, master of stage and vision, who declared: “Theater originated with technology. People forget that.” At first, these words may seem strange, for we often imagine the theater as pure art, born only of voice, gesture, and story. Yet Lepage speaks truth, for the very birth of the stage was intertwined with the tools of invention, with the devices and mechanisms that gave form to imagination. What he offers us is a reminder that technology is not the enemy of art but its companion, its chisel, its brush, its unseen scaffold.

When he speaks of theater, he names that ancient temple of storytelling, where people gathered not only to be entertained but to encounter truth reflected through performance. From the masks of the Greeks to the sacred dances of Asia, the theater has always been both a mirror of humanity and a window into the divine. And when he ties its origin to technology, he is not speaking of electronics alone, but of every device mankind has ever created to shape illusion, amplify sound, or build wonder before the eyes of an audience.

Think of the Greeks, who are often called the fathers of Western theater. Their performances in amphitheaters depended on great feats of technology—the precise architecture of stone to carry a whisper to thousands of ears, the use of masks with exaggerated expressions to make emotions visible from afar, the hidden cranes and pulleys that lowered gods from the heavens in the awe-inspiring deus ex machina. Their art was not only voice and poetry, but also engineering, design, and invention. Without these, their stories would not have had the same power to move the multitude.

Consider also the age of Shakespeare, when the Globe Theatre rose on the banks of the Thames. There, trapdoors opened to reveal ghosts, cannon fire announced battles, and painted scenery transformed the bare stage into forests, castles, and stormy seas. These were not mere decorations but the technologies of their day, working hand in hand with poetry to create an experience greater than either alone. Shakespeare’s genius lived not only in his words, but in his use of the tools that gave them flesh.

Lepage’s words remind us that every age must rediscover this truth. Today, many fear that modern technology—lights, projections, soundscapes, even digital illusions—threatens to overwhelm the soul of theater. Yet this fear is as old as the stage itself. The Greeks once feared mechanical devices would diminish the purity of drama, just as Elizabethans argued about spectacle versus word. And yet, time has shown that when guided by vision, technology does not diminish theater; it expands it. It allows the storyteller to paint not only with voice but with light, with sound, with movement, with the vast palette of human invention.

The lesson is this: do not despise the tools of your age. Just as the ancients embraced stone, mask, and pulley, so must we embrace screen, light, and sound. For art is not frozen; it lives, it adapts, it drinks from the well of human progress. To forget that theater began with technology is to deny its very origin, to sever it from the soil in which it grew. Art and invention are twins, born together, each giving life to the other.

Therefore, take practical action: if you are an artist, learn not only the craft of story but the craft of tools. If you are an inventor, recognize that your work, too, is a form of storytelling. Do not draw lines between art and technology, but let them nourish each other. For in their union lies the wonder that has moved humanity for millennia.

Thus Robert Lepage’s words shine with ancient resonance: theater was never separate from technology. From the stones of the amphitheater to the spotlights of today, from the masks of tragedy to the projections of the modern stage, art has always walked with invention. Remember this, O listener, and do not fear the tools of your time. Instead, wield them as your ancestors did—with imagination, with reverence, and with the eternal desire to move the hearts of humankind. For theater and technology have always been one.