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The Passion to Nurture Empathy in the Midst of Art

Reprinted from Traditions, Winter 2018-19
April 24, 2019

As manager of the ground-breaking St. Ann’s Warehouse Theater in New York City, Erik Wallin ’99 is responsible for finding and telling innovative stories that are challenging as well as entertaining. St. Ann’s Warehouse is internationally renowned as an “artistic home for international companies of distinction, American avant-garde masters and talented emerging artists ready to work on a grand scale.”

Wallin travels all over the international theater community to explore and invite artists who want to expand beyond traditional theater to run their show at his theater. A common theme in the work performed at St. Ann’s confronts social issues, all while delighting audiences. That is Wallin’s passion.

“I appreciate that I was able to find my personal and professional passion at a young age,” Wallin expressed.

It was back at Cretin-Derham where Wallin was in multiple theater productions and would come to consider theater as the centerpiece of these four critical years.

The CDH approach to welcome dialogue about sometimes difficult topics, in both theater and other academic areas such as his Spectrum class, became a foundation for his career because he had been challenged to explore how art can impact justice.

“In high school, empathy is perhaps the most valuable thing students learn in theater. I learned empathy as I tried to understand the world from others’ points of view,” he explained.

This sense of empathy was a foundation for a whirlwind career that finds Wallin now working with artists all over the world.

Wallin has dedicated his career to finding ways to tell the stories of humanity, both American and international stories, that challenge our understanding and consciousness. “I ask myself: what can I do to highlight and tell the stories of those who cannot perform?”

He came to realize that theater can be revolutionary for a culture. “There is incredible power in humanity being in the same space, same moment, to explore, even empathize with the justice issues that can be explored on stage.”

Several of his recent productions have earned critical acclaim. Recently, the Daniel Fish version of well-known Oklahoma! uses the exact words and music from the familiar musical, but turned the perspective around a bit.

“We raise the question, ‘What if Jud (the bad guy) was simply misunderstood because he was an outsider...not necessarily inherently evil?” The show pushes the audience to consider society’s role and responsibility rather than simply see good versus bad.

In fact, this production was so well-received, it is on its way to Broadway in March for a revival that brings such an innovative and fresh perspective that Time Magazine named Oklahoma! the #1 Theatrical Event of 2018.

“Daniel Fish’s provocative take (on Oklahoma!) jolts new life into this oft-musty staple. The painfully relevant production lands at the exact right moment in a country where demonization of immigrants and outsiders is on the rise and mass shootings are an everyday occurrence.” (Time Magazine)

Wallin is most proud of his role in bringing the play The Jungle to the U.S. Based in a French refugee camp, The Jungle depicts the heart of the international immigration crisis. As art imitates life, the whole production at St. Ann’s Warehouse was at risk when the three main actors were subject to President Trump’s Executive Order (known as the “travel ban”) and were not allowed to come into the country to perform.

“These artists were the show,” Wallin explains. Their situation was so ironically reflective of the policy changes going on in the U.S., he went to work to explore visa alternatives. With the support of elected officials, colleagues in the cultural arena, diplomats, a handful of celebrities and an extraordinary team of immigration lawyers he was able to secure “national interest” waivers for these three artists to be able to come into the U.S. and perform this important play. The production will now have a future life in the United States: it opens in San Francisco at the end of March.

Career Working With International Artists

Wallin has a particularly interesting history that lead to his ability to work with national leaders in situations that relate to international artists.

After CDH, Wallin went on to earn his BA in Theater at St. Olaf. Upon college graduation, he took an internship at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. at a time when the Kennedy Center was trying to raise its profile for excellence internationally. Following an internship, he worked for six years in the Center’s international programming department and had a chance to work with performers from all over Asia, the Middle East, India, Australia, Scandinavia, and elsewhere in Europe. While there, he also worked with leaders at the White House, State Department and Capitol Hill to expand the diversity of artists invited to perform at the Kennedy Center.

He had long admired Susan Feldman, the President and Artistic Director of St. Ann’s Warehouse, and her mission to renovate the old warehouse into what Wallin calls a ‘sacred space’ for diverse and boundry-less performances of both national and international prominence.

Wallin became the General Manager in 2010, and now seeks to find and produce important works of art that he hopes becomes part of the national conversation about art and justice.

While in New York City, Wallin has invited several CDH student groups to come for performances and back-stage insight into how a major theater is managed. Most recently, Wallin returned to CDH and participated in the Panel of Professionals and enjoyed the celebratory performances for the 25th Anniversary of the Lillian Theater, where he got his start in theater, and launched a career that spans the globe.

This article and more are featured in the Winter 2018-19 issue of Traditions.

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