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.

In the theater the audience wants to be surprised but by things that they expect

In the theater the audience wants to be surprised but by things that they expect

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.

I submit all my plays to the National Theatre for rejection. To assure myself I am seeing clearly.

I submit all my plays to the National Theatre for rejection. To assure myself I am seeing clearly.

We are in the black theater of nonexistence. In an eye blink the curtain is up, the stage ablaze, for read more

We are in the black theater of nonexistence. In an eye blink the curtain is up, the stage ablaze, for the vast drama of ourselves.

All of the arts, poetry, music, ritual, the visible arts, the theater, must singly and together create the most comprehensive read more

All of the arts, poetry, music, ritual, the visible arts, the theater, must singly and together create the most comprehensive art of all, a humanized society, and its masterpiece, free man

Theater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve read more

Theater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theater.

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.

It's one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work read more

It's one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work -- the night watchman.