McNay Art Museum Announces Oskar Eustis as 2025 Tobin Distinguished Lecture Speaker

Artistic director behind the legendary Public Theater, home to Shakespeare in the Park in New York City, to deliver lecture on the vital role of theatre in society

SAN ANTONIO – The McNay Art Museum proudly welcomes Oskar Eustis, artistic director for The Public Theater in New York City, as its speaker for the annual Tobin Distinguished Lecture, taking place on June 12.

The event offers a unique opportunity to hear Eustis’ insights on the theater’s role in tackling the great issues of our time. The lecture, entitled “Shakespeare, Our Contemporary?”, will delve into the many ways that theater artists have used Shakespeare to meet their own historical moment and how they are doing so today. From Shakespeare in the Park to the Mobile Unit, which tours to prisons and halfway houses, Eustis will look at the various ways The Public’s Shakespeare work meets its audience. The event will draw connections to themes conveyed in the McNay’s “Designing Shakespeare through the Ages” exhibition and to the significance of the Museum’s world-class Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts.

 “San Antonio has been an inspiration for urbanists and artists for decades—a beautiful model of a city embracing culture in many forms,” said Oskar Eustis, artistic director of The Public Theater. “It’s a special honor to be able to talk about The Public’s work there.”

Eustis became the artistic director of The Public Theater in 2005, after serving as the artistic director at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island from 1994-2005. Throughout his career, Eustis has been dedicated to the development of new work that speaks to the great issues of our time and has worked with countless artists in pursuit of that aim, including Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Henry Hwang, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Richard Nelson, Rinne Groff, Tarell Alvin McCraney and Lisa Kron. He has produced three Tony Award-winning Best Musicals, including the 2009 revival of “Hair,” “Fun Home” and “Hamilton.”

“Oskar Eustis’ transformative work has shaped culture in profound ways, demonstrating the power of theatre to change hearts and minds,” said Matthew McLendon, director and CEO of the McNay, “We are honored to welcome him to the McNay for an inspiring conversation that reinforces our commitment to offer transformational art experiences.” 

Eustis is currently a professor at New York University and has held professorships at UCLA, Middlebury College and Brown University. He has also produced and directed Shakespeare in venues across the U.S., from prisons to Broadway, including The Public’s 2017 free Shakespeare in the Park staging of “Julius Caesar” that generated a national conversation. 

“Much like The Public Theater’s mission to increase access and engage the community, the McNay’s ‘Designing Shakespeare through the Ages’ exhibition and related programming aim to make the works more accessible to our diverse audiences,” said Remus Moore, The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund assistant curator. “We look forward to Eustis’ insights on theater and the enduring legacy of Shakespeare.”

The McNay’s Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts includes more than 10,000 paintings, works on paper, maquettes and sculpture and 2,000 rare books of European and American theatre design from 1600 to the present. The collection is the life’s work and continued legacy of its namesake, the late philanthropist Robert L. B. Tobin, who was devoted to the celebration of visual arts in the theatre.

“Designing Shakespeare through the Ages” is organized for the McNay Art Museum by Remus Moore, The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund assistant curator, The Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts, with René Paul Barilleaux, head of curatorial affairs.

The exhibition and free event are programs of the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund. Registration for Tobin Distinguished Lecture: Oskar Eustis is required.

Past Tobin Distinguished Lecture speakers include Caroline Hamilton, Ph.D. (2024), Susan Hilferty (2023) and Montana Levi Blanco (2022).

*This press release has been updated to reflect the lecture details and speaker commentary.

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About McNay Art Museum
The McNay Art Museum engages a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts. Built in the 1920s by artist and educator Marion Koogler McNay, the Spanish Colonial Revival residence became the site of Texas’ first modern art museum when it opened in 1954. Today, 200,000 visitors a year enjoy works by modern masters including Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 45,000-square-foot Jane & Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions, designed by internationally renowned French architect Jean-Paul Viguier, features major exhibitions annually. The 25 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds include sculptures by Willie Cole, Robert Indiana, Luis A. Jiménez Jr., Alejandro Martín, George Rickey, Joel Shapiro, Kiki Smith, Tom Wesselmann and others. For more information about the McNay, visit www.mcnayart.org.

The McNay is open Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday from Noon to 5 p.m.