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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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