dpieching from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with mikhail british cop. he continues to re-invent himself. right now he is on tour performing the title role in "man in a case," an adaptation of two short stories by chekhov.

mikhail baryshnikov has received just about every honor i think an artist can receive, but he's never rested on his laurels. he keeps challenging himself, gravitating now to what might be called experimental theater. he's currently in los angeles playing the title role in "man in a case," a multimedia adaptation of two short stories about love and loss by anton chekhov. let's take a look first at a scene from "man in a case," in which byelikov, a repressed schoolmaster, takes out his frustration by dismissing two students.

>> i hope it does not reach the ears of the authorities. oh, i hope not in consulate. there could be trouble. it would be a very good thing if student were expelled from the second form. and student from the fourth. >> would that be a fair description of what you're doing here, experimental theater? >> well, it is sort of american avante-gardee.

you know two directors, annie b. parsons and paul lazar are both known artists who are in the last 20-plus years sort of developing their style of presenting stories. they always look for a piece of literature which could be open let's say this is two short stories of chekhov. chekhov knows of his big plays like "cherry orchard," "seagull," et cetera. but it's probably just more difficult to adapt and to present something new in them. short stories, because they are so short, they allow directors like that to go in and interpret interior of the heroes, their personalities, like this byelikov. you know, we know very little

about him. that he is -- not about his family, his education. he is teaching the rare languages, like ancient greek. and his behavior seems very conservative. and all this sociopolitical elements kind of hesitant in his behavior. and that allows the directors to go in and eliminate by the different mediums, like movement sound effects, video, et cetera, et cetera. i want to talk in a moment, mikhail, about the multimedia aspect of it. but let me back up for a second, and i think i know the answer. but for you, why chekhov? there are many who believe he is the best playwright ever, of course, but -- >> well, it just happened, you know, because we developed this in connecticut in hartford

more than 100 years ago.

and it's so relevant, because it's all about, as you say, universal kind of situation. when you speak about love, about ethics of it. it's about possibility. it's about self-examination and duties of a man. and fears. it's really -- that's a classic theme. it could have been written yesterday. >> yeah. let me go inside the production for a second. either of these stories, "man in the kcase" -- i mean either woud have been two short, so you sort of weaved them together. how did that come about? >> i suggested that to hartford stage. and i suggested directors because i knew them socially and i admired their work from afar. and after first meeting, we

realize of course that "the man in case" was too short for a full evening, it should be at least an hour. and they recalled their work with chekhov before. they suggested that about two hours, which was the bridge, you realize that the whole construction of the play, actors around the table talking turkey, and then it comes into the play. and then after the first part, they come back to the table. and the character who died actually comes alive again as an actor and introducing the second story. that's how they bridged the two stories together. >> it was fascinating to me -- let me back up and say i suspect that any fan of yours who comes to see you in anything hopes

that you're going to do some dancing. >> well, i did little bit. >> you did. very, very -- >> it's never enough. it's never enough. >> yeah. i know, for your fans it's never enough. but you're ok with that, obviously. >> yeah. you want a 66-year-old man to dance all evening. that's what they want. >> but you could still do it if you wanted to, couldn't you? >> of course i can. and sometimes i go onstage, and i recently a few months ago danced with mark morris dance company, new piece, which i was part of the evening and had a great time. of course, there is different kind of dance, and i have to work -- you know, the people who i work with, like mark, for example, they know exactly how to use me, you know. you cannot -- you know, you cannot dance physically certain things. you know what i mean? but look at tango dancers or

flamenco or japanese classical theater. you can -- if you're smart enough and you collaborate with the right choreographers, you could really dance, you know, dance your age. and there's a lot of examples to it. martha graham and paul tailor, twila tharp, and mark morris himself. because they are choreographers, they know their physicality. they know what not to do, you know, and not to show, special how to use your body smartly. >> i had chita rivera here not too longing -- >> oh, chita.

>> who's still dancing her age, as you put it. >> incredible. >> she knows how to dance her age. >> that's a timeless artist. it's incredible. >> yeah, yeah. where i was going with that initially, though, was how interesting it is -- >> i don't want to say weird, but interesting it is to sit in the audience, as did i the other night, and watch you play these characters, this character, who is so muted. that's when you know you're a good actor. >> well, that's the challenge. i was always fascinated by class cal theater, russian theater. i grew up, of course, in latvia first, and then in russia 10 years. and those 10 years in russia especially i had access to receive the best of the russian theater. i thought it's magic when the

actor is saying something. it's such a revealing form of art, such a transparent and good good actors, they are such powerful individuals. and i always kind of dreamed that one day i will open my mouth on stage. >> in l.a., we are i think blessed more and more to be exposed to these brilliant and wonderful productions. i mean, this is not new york. we are not broadway. we are in los angeles, on the left coast, the west coast. but i think more and more, we are getting exposed to the kind of stuff that is making the culture in this city even more rich. but when you're in broadway or in new york versus being l.a., is there something you want to tell me about performing in los angeles? >> you know, in the last two years -- you know this is my third time working on the broad stage. and this is extraordinary institution in my view.

it's a lovely theater. i love that area. it's really comforting. but in general, look at how many theaters opened in the last few years in los angeles. there's suddenly two modern dance companies, you know, bodytraffic, benjamin millier project, l.a. project. and they are performing in new york, paris, traveling around the country. and i think there is audience. i know there's an audience. i can feel it. >> yeah. do you -- and as i said, you received just about every major award there is, and yet you keep pushing yourself to innovate, create, try different things. what's that all about? >> well, you don't measure a life by receiving awards, you know. i'm flattered and i am deeply honored, you know, to receive something like, you know, kennedy center honors or legion

d'honneur of france. it is -- i'm afraid to get bored with myself, is number one. second one, second point, you know, my day job, in a way, it's my center in new york. and i really -- when i run that center, and i am perform the same time, keeps me alive, keeps me understand what's needs of the young artist. not necessarily young, or middle age, you know, but all age, what their needs are. what, in a sense, new york city. i had a kind of strange relationship with -- always with new york city. was total love affair in the beginning, in the '70s. then retreat.

and then kind of conservatives of politics and the real estate and business came. and now i am again kind of fighting for the justice for the city, to open the city for the artists, you know, for art education for kids, you know. and minorities, and adult education, education per se. you know, it's just very important. that's the future of our country. >> yeah. since you referenced it, tell me more about the work that you're doing or hope to do through your center. >> well, we were trying to open possibilities for young people who are -- want to be artists, from art colleges, from the young choreographers, the young people who dream to become playwright and photographer, artist. musician.

we are giving opportunity for workshops, cooperative processes. we work with the different -- it's international center. we work with the governments from europe and elsewhere to bring people -- because all people around the world want to come to the united states to create. because it's such a jolt, such an extraordinary inspiration when i speak whether in england or in germany or france or australia, south america. people say, oh, new york, los angeles, chicago. i mean, they feel -- they want to experience that admiration to american culture. and actually, american foreign policy is more and more -- especially with obama administration, how -- how just people's heads come up, people's

chins, when they speak about our president. it's really very proud. >> i want to go back to something you said a moment ago about young people you work with, and you meant young in experience and also in terms of age, just people that want to see their artistic efforts burst and grow. but i want to talk specifically about the really young people. those who are school age, and what you make of the fact, and what you ultimately think the price will be that we will pay as a nation, for not exposing these young people to the arts in the way that you were as a child in russia. we talked about earlier the fact that you were reading chekhov and were exposed to great art as a child. i fear personally personally that there's a huge price this country is going to pay for denying young people to arts programs of all sorts. but your thoughts.

>> well, divinity of art, it's such a mystery, you know? how to convince people on the hill, in washington, that no matter how much money you can spend on education and art education especially, that it implants -- it's a direct -- it directs a young person for the rest of their lives, and always in the most humane and positive and dignified manner. somehow, it's -- you cannot put it on paper. you know, it's -- it is not a seed which you in earth and expect next day to be a flower. you know, it takes -- it's not

water in a drain. you invest into the future, and that's how young people become human in best sense of it, through the great experience of listening to muller symphony or to see a great play by tennessee williams, you know, experience something in the ballet, you know, in the film. but at age of 10, 11, 12, 13, that's the -- you know, it's much more difficult to start your education in your 20s, let's say. >> yeah. >> and sometimes it's almost too late. >> at this point in your life,

as you reflect on what art has taught you about your own humanity, and the humanity of others, what can you share with me in that regard? >> well, i kind of had a strange childhood, not kind of very conventional. i discovered theater when i was probably 9 years old. in fact, much earlier, because my mother was dragging me, you know, and probably i was 5, 6 or so, to see opera and the ballet. and she was very simple woman. she was not university educated. and she came from central russia, from volga river to

riga, latvia, as a wife of a soviet military officer. i was the son of an occupant. i knew in very, very early years of my life that we are not invited here. it's not my country. it's not my language. we don't -- you know, somehow -- nobody would say, ok, we're in this country because josef stalin sent us right here, and he just occupied, you know. these three baltic countries, lithuania, latvia, estonia. but on the streets, it was -- everything was very evident when my father -- i was walking with my father and mother, and he was wearing military garb. the way latvian people look at us, what the hell are you doing here? why you are here? i didn't have any answers, but i

knew something is wrong here. it's later on, now i am looking at -- i'm actually flood that stalin send us there because i look into the politics and russian politics from a childhood eyes. i really understand already certain things, what anti-semitism is, what's the situation between latvians and the russians. what our army is doing there. there's a statue of freedom which actually proudly was facing west. just interesting dichotomy. you know, but art, you know, my mother passed away when i was like 10, 11. and i discovered theater, and it was my home.

my father remarried. and those last few years when i was 14, 15, 16, and then i left to russia. i was like a sponge. my homework was like -- i was a very mediocre student geometry or mathematics. but i liked literature, history, i liked dance elements of it, acting, et cetera. and i felt that i grew up much faster. i really realized that there is not always a relationship between people are given. there's sometimes somebody's wrong and somebody's right for a different kind of reason. whether it's politics or it's

love or it's just craziness. because those people are sometimes portrayed in the theater, in dance, in music. you know, all these elements, they're brooding in your mind, in your heart. and when i arrive actually as a provincial young man into russia, and i was accepted into this incredible institution that now is academy. it was a choreographic school, vaganova, you know, famous teacher. i was on my feet, and i was ready to inhale the old real culture of russia. i understood already that was a lot of start of political

processes and brodsky in the political. it was the era of leonid brezhnev, of course, of very conservative, very stale, very, very brutal, in a way, but same time, i received a free education which i would never, ever have received anywhere else. >> i could talk to you for hours. as a matter of fact, the last time mikhail baryshnikov was on the show, the conversation was so rich and so delightful that it turned into not one night, but two nights. and i so want to do that now. and i'm tempted to do that now. but i know that i need to protect his voice, because he's got more shows to do in town. so i'm going to do you a favor and let him save his voice so when you go see him in "man in the case" he will have some pipes to work with on the stage. he is again now starring in "man

in a case" in santa monica. if you can get a ticket to see him, you should do yourself a favor and go see this icon while he is in the city of angels. and there might be a voice that you recognize somewhere in this play. thank you for the opportunity. >> thank you, i appreciate it. >> good to have you on. all the best to you. that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching. and as always, keep the faith. ♪ for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley on pbs.org. join me for a conversation with nas next time. we'll see you then. daniel mansergh:

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