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Theatre Quotes
Theatre Quotes
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- To find a quote by a specific person, enter their name in the Search box, then click the "Search" button. Tip: Searching by using only the person's last name usually works best.
- " Acting touches nerves you have absolutely no control over."
- Alan Rickman
Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alanrickma251360.html
- " Acting is a very limited form of expression and those who take it seriously are very limited people. I take it seriously."
- Judy Holliday
Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/judyhollid227986.html
- " Acted drama requires surrender of one's self, sympathetic absorption in the play as it develops."
- George P. Baker
Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgepba199310.html
- " White male playwrights' works continue to dominate production slates. Sometimes it seems easier for them to have the texts of their driver's licenses produced than for the female or non-white playwright to have her best play produced. The reality is, they are more often given that all-important opportunity to fail than the women's play or ethnic play."
- Velina Hasu Houston
- " I've taught both screenwriting and playwriting, and playwriting is both much harder and much more rewarding. One can teach people how to tell a story in cinematic ways, but theater is a much more elusive craft."
- David Ives
Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_ives.html
- " Writing a play, you start with less, so more is demanded of you. It's as if you have to not only write a symphony, but invent the instruments as well."
- David Ives
Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_ives.html
- " Before I write down one word, I have to have the character in my mind through and through. I must penetrate into the last wrinkle of his soul."
- Henrik Ibsen
- " I can't expose a human weakness on the stage unless I know it through having it myself."
- Tennessee Williams
- " Stage lighting is no longer a matter of simple illumination as it was less than 100 years ago. Today, the lighting designer is expected to be a master of art, science, history, psychology, communications, politics and sometimes even mind reading."
- Bill Williams
- " An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation."
- Billy Wilder
Source: Friendly Advice (book)
- " Good plays drive bad playgoers crazy."
- Brooks Atkinson
Source: Theatre Arts Aug 56
- " In the most basic terms, the director is a production's primary storyteller. A play has only one plot (including subplots), but it contains many potential stories. The interpretation of the primary characters largely determines the story, so in effect, every production of the same play will inevitably tell a different tale. One of the most important functions a director fulfills is determining, with the actors and designers, which story to tell and how to tell it coherently."
- Michael Bloom
Source: Thinking Like a Director: A Practical Handbook
- " Most directors work from inside out and from the outside in. They concentrate not only on the life of the characters but also on the play's structrual or external elements, including its central conflict, function, event, architecture, and suspense."
- Michael Bloom
Source: Thinking Like a Director: A Practical Handbook
- " In community theatres, "doers" seem to do the following: act, direct, choreograph, accompany, design, build, find, sew, sell, or usher. "Managers" plan, organize, staff, supervise and evaluate. Doers, like directors and crew chiefs, also "manage," and managers like stage managers also sometimes "do"--find props, paint sets, or hang lights. Leaders can also be managers and/or doers, but in their leadership capacity their activities include these: dreaming, pushing, causing to grow, problem-solving and inspiring. Their qualities of intelligence, imagination, commitment, perseverance, and passion are the very qualities that invite the rest of us to say "Yes!""
- Twink Lynch
Source: Boards In the Spotlight, p. 95
- " A statement of vision is the overarching purpose, the big dream, the visionary concept--something presently out of reach--so stated that it excites the imagination and chlalenges people to work for something they do not yet know how to do."
- Robert Greenleaf
Source: Servant Leadership
- " Don't let a single comic moment pass you by; then help the audience get the laughs. Give them permission to laugh by holding for laughter and by letting them know early on what they're in for. In the first few moments, the audience is gathering information, looking at the scenery and costumes. Create a comic moment as soon as you can."
- James Carver
Source: Stage Directions Guide to Directing
- " In comedy, beware the split focus. The audience should focus on the face of the actor. The audience must see the setup. If there is action elsewhere on the stage, the comic line can be lost."
- James Carver
Source: Stage Directions Guide to Directing
- " One of the issues peculiar to community theater is dealing with inexperienced or outright bad actors who are so unimaginative, so lacking in energy, that no matter what devices you use, you just don't seem to be helping them that much. They will improve. It is your rseponsibility that the actor should ever feel that he or she has failed."
- Ann Jellicoe
Source: Stage Directions Guide to Directing
- " Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand."
- Chinese Proverb
- " The truth is that there is no one accepted method for directing, any more than there is for any other art. How a director fares is greatly dependent on who that person is, his collaborators, and the project at hand. To complicate matters, the relationship between product and process isnt't always a direct and causal one. Some directors work themselves to the bone, while others do very little. Paradoxically, they achieve successes and failures in both categories. But it would be naive not to believe that most successful productions occur because of the intensive efforts of a skilled director."
- Michael Bloom
Source: Thinking Like a Director: A Practical Handbook