The primary function of a theater is not to please itself, or even to please its audience. It is to read more

The primary function of a theater is not to please itself, or even to please its audience. It is to serve talent.

I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theater is read more

I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theater is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture.

For my part, I confess I seldom listen to the players: one has so much to do, in looking about read more

For my part, I confess I seldom listen to the players: one has so much to do, in looking about and finding out one's acquaintance, that, really, one has no time to mind the stage. One merely comes to meet one's friends, and show that one's alive.

The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to read more

The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life.

To save the theatre, the theatre must be destroyed, the actors and actresses must all die of the plague. They read more

To save the theatre, the theatre must be destroyed, the actors and actresses must all die of the plague. They poison the air, they make art impossible. It is not drama that they play, but pieces for the theatre. We should return to the Greeks, play in the open air; the drama dies of stalls and boxes and evening dress, and people who come to digest their dinner.

You need three things in the theater - the play, the actors and the audience, - and each must give read more

You need three things in the theater - the play, the actors and the audience, - and each must give something

You can throw away the privilege of acting, but that would be such a shame. The tribe has elected you read more

You can throw away the privilege of acting, but that would be such a shame. The tribe has elected you to tell its story. You are the shaman/healer, that's what the storyteller is, and I think it's important for actors to appreciate that. Too often actors think it's all about them, when in reality it's all about the audience being able to recognize themselves in you. The more you pull away from the public, the less power you have on screen.

The novel is more of a whisper, whereas the stage is a shout.

The novel is more of a whisper, whereas the stage is a shout.

The theater needs continual reminders that there is nothing more debasing than the work of those who do well what read more

The theater needs continual reminders that there is nothing more debasing than the work of those who do well what is not worth doing at all.