A list of some of my favorite theatre-related quotes:
"He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid." – Arthur Miller
"I know that my works are a credit to this nation and I dare say they will endure longer than the McCarran Act.” –Arthur Miller
"Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.” – Arthur Miller
"Theater has an incredible capacity to move people to social change, to address issues, to inspire social revolution.” – Eve Ensler
"The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation." – Stella Adler
"I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost - it's there and then it's gone." – Maggie Smith
"That's the magic of art and the magic of theatre: it has the power to transform an audience, an individual, or en masse, to transform them and give them an epiphanal experience that changes their life, opens their hearts and their minds and the way they think.” – Brian Stokes Mitchell
"I think theatre to some extent is always about telling stories, isn't it, and I think what I've learned is that freedom comes when you tell your story; freedom comes when you tell the truth.” – Eve Ensler
"We have the ability to change people's minds and hearts - that's what we want to do with theatre. That's what theatre does... period." – Gavin Creel
"I've always been a believer in the power of art - and music in particular - to inspire change." – Gavin Creel
"Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it." Konstantin Stanislavski
"The greatest wisdom is to realize one's lack of it." – Konstantin Stanislavski
"Create your own method. Don't depend slavishly on mine. Make up something that will work for you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you." – Konstantin Stanislavski
"I don't know what really makes a great musical or not. In the end, you write it, and you write it because you want to write it." – Andrew Lloyd Webber
"You're the luckiest person in the entire world if you know what you really want to do, which I was lucky enough to know when I was very young. And you're the luckiest person in the world if you can then make a living out of it." – Andrew Lloyd Webber
"Obviously, you would give your life for your children, or give them the last biscuit on the plate. But to me, the trick in life is to take that sense of generosity between kin, make it apply to the extended family and to your neighbour, your village and beyond." – Tom Stoppard
"Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to." – Willem Dafoe
"I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being." – Thornton Wilder
"Once in awhile, there's stuff that makes me say, That's what theatre's about. It has to be a human event on the stage, and that doesn't happen very often." – Uta Hagen
"The theatre is a spiritual and social X-ray of its time." – Stella Adler
"Theatre was my first love. I can't take the theatre out of me. And I wouldn't want to. To me, it's home." – Jim Parsons
"The way the world is, I think a silly evening in the theatre is a good thing, to take our minds off terror." – Tim Curry
"The theatre is the involuntary reflex of the ideas of the crowd." – Sarah Bernhardt
"Mum wasn't at all religious, but she thought that going to the theatre was as important a ceremonial, communal experience that a person could have." – Hayley Atwell
"In the end I think theatre has only one subject: justice." – Edward Bond
"I feel there's a power in theatre, but it's an indirect power. It's like the relationship of the sleeper to the unconscious. You discover things you can't afford to countenance in waking life. You can forget them, remember them a day later or not have any idea what they are about." – Tony Kushner
"The way you give love is the most profoundly human part of you. When people say it's ugly or a perversion or an abomination, they're attacking the center of your being." – Tony Kushner
"The more you go to a theatre and the more you hear stories you aren't necessarily familiar with, the more open you become." – Lynn Nottage
"I think folks who are resistant to engaging in art become less so once they encounter art that really reflects them." – Lynn Nottage
"And whether or not you're interested in opera or classical music or folk music or the theatre, I think that for a nation's health and well-being it's very important that the arts scene is supported." – Lesley Sharp
"It's communication - that's what theatre is all about." – Chita Rivera
"It's one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work - the night watchman." – Tallulah Bankhead
"I've learnt that there's acting for film, acting for theatre, and acting for an audition." – Sarah Snook
"Theatre is expensive to go to. I certainly felt when I was growing up that theatre wasn't for us. Theatre still has that stigma to it. A lot of people feel intimidated and underrepresented in theatre.” – Christopher Eccleston
"Theatre has had a very important role in changing South Africa. There was a time when all other channels of expression were closed that we were able to break the conspiracy of silence, to educate people inside South Africa and the outside world. We became the illegal newspaper." – John Kani
"Films I've really liked are when you've walked out and you're still in that movie for a while. That's virtual reality for me, to go into a theatre, especially with the use of sound - a subconscious thing that's underestimated." – Lynne Ramsay
"It's great to be in a film that's able to have people really want to become socially conscious, to walk out of the theatre and want to do something." – Don Cheadle
"One of my beliefs is that there are certain institutions within a community which stand for the spirit and heart of that community, there's the church, the local football team, the local pub and the theatre." – David Soul
"I think the same way about theatre, you go out there and you are creating a world for a moment that can actually have a real impact on people, present some kind of story that gives you something to think about when you walk away, feeling enriched - if it works out well." — Jeffrey Jones
"What theatre started to look at much earlier than any other form was the internal operations of ordinary people, sometimes using mythic models in order to tell the story." – Pete Townshend
"I don't think it's the job of filmmakers to give anybody answers. I do think, though, that a good film makes you ask questions of yourself as you leave the theatre." – Paul Haggis
"Miller didn't write Death of a Salesman. He released it. It was there inside him, waiting to be turned loose. That's the measure of its merit." – Elia Kazan
"I always go back to theatre. It's probably where I'll draw my last breath." – Peter Gallagher
"People always make that mistake when they talk about theatre - the notion of the 'theatrical' meaning something separate from life. If it doesn't relate to life, it doesn't relate to anything." – Brian Cox
"I think the theatre is as essential to civilization as safe, pure water." – Vanessa Redgrave
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” – Langston Hughes
“Overcome the notion that you must be regular. It robs you of the chance to be extraordinary.” – Uta Hagen
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The power of art can break the shackles that bind and divide human beings.” – Daisaku Ikeda
“The arts make a bridge across this world in ways that nothing else can.” – Julie Andrews
“Everyone deserves to have their story fully told.” – Dominique Morisseau
“Somewhere in our DNA we know that stories are out there to help us understand what we’re doing here on this planet.” – Theresa Rebeck
“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.” – Kurt Vonnegut
“Don’t listen to anyone who doesn’t know how to dream.” – Liza Minnelli
"Get to know your voice - it's strong, it's resilient, it's expressive, it's you..." – Kristin Linklater
"In the language of an actor, to know is synonymous with to feel." – Konstantin Stanislavski
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