Theatre Quotes
For use in newsletters, season or fundraising brochures or emails, presentations--you name it.
Category | Quote | First | Last | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
Playwriting |
If there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last. |
Anton | Chekhov | http://www.ag.wastholm.net/category/art |
Backstage |
If we could read minds, we wouldn't need headsets. |
Tommy | Kendrick | http://www.denagy.com/techiejokes/tjokes.html |
Acting |
If you achieve success, you will get applause. Enjoy it--but never quite believe it. |
Robert | Montgomery | Friendly Advice by Jon Winokur |
Directing |
If you cast wrong, you are in a lot of trouble. |
Paul | Mazursky | Friendly Advice (book) |
Costumes |
If you do a certain amount of work on your own before consulting with the director then the process starts with the script. I tend to do a certain amount of my own work before I go into a first meeting. It is important to be open minded in your first meeting with a director but I like to be well-prepared for that meeting because sometimes that time with your director can be limited. At the time of that first meeting, I will have read the play several times and from different points of view. I might read the play once to just check how many costume changes there are. I will read it again to make a prop list. I will read it again to analyse where the entrances and exits are and also to imagine where the furniture will be. It's difficult to concentrate on all of these things in one reading so I go through these processes in separate readings. Once you have that under your belt, depending on the period of the production, I guess I start to do visual research based on my response to the text. Depending on where and when I might choose to look at photography of the period or I might choose to look at painting or I might just look at history books and look for thematic influences. That's the start and having done that you team up with your director and see what their response is to those ideas you have and then you start to form a stronger direction. [Christina Poddubiuk, Set and Costume designer] |
Christina | Poddubiuk | http://www.artsalive.ca |
Acting |
If you have the emotion, it infects you and the audience. If you don't have it don't bother; just say your lines as truthfully as you are capable of doing. You can't fake emotion. |
Sanford | Meisner | http://www.aldersonstudio.com/quotes/index.html |
Fundraising |
If you need to raise funds from donors, you need to study them, respect them, and build everything you do around them. |
Jeff | Brooks | |
Acting |
If you want to help the American theatre, don't be an actress, be an audience. |
Tallulah | Bankhead | Friendly Advice by Jon Winokur |
Acting |
Imagination! Imagination! I put it first years ago, when I was asked what qualities I thought necessary for success upon the stage. And I am still of the same opinion. Imagination, industry [hard work], and intelligence--the three I's--are all indispensable to the actor, but of these three the greatest is, without any doubt, imagination. |
Ellen | Terry | The Audience Book of Theatre Quotations, by Louis Phillips |
Lighting |
In a circle of light on the stage in the midst of darkness, you have the sensation of being entirely alone. . . . This is called solitude in public. . . . You can always enclose yourself in this circle, like a snail in its shell. |
Konstantin | Stanislavsky | The Audience Book of Theatre Quotations, by Louis Phillips |
Playwriting |
In a good play every speech should be as fully flavored as a nut or apple. |
J.M. | Synge | http://www.brainyquote.com/ |
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 | Stage Directions Guide to Directing |
Management |
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 | Boards In the Spotlight, p. 95 |
Acting, Directing, General |
In creating and performing in a play, there is a sense of common purpose, of living something outside of yourself, of hauling to one common goal. All these different artistic disciplines are corralled into one purpose, and in the process, incredibly strong bonds are created. |
Eric | Stern | It Happened On Broadway |
Fundraising |
In good times and bad, we know that people give because you meet needs, not because you have needs. |
Kay | Grace | http://www.museummarketingtips.com/quotes/giving.html |
Fundraising |
In his book, Managing the Non-Profit, Peter Drucker noted that most non-profits are woefully ignorant about “market knowledge.” Passionate non-profit leaders firmly believe that what they are doing merits support, but many are unable to articulate to others the importance of the project and why donors should contribute to it. If you can articulate quickly, passionately, and convincingly why your project should be done, you will have much more success. |
Bill | DeWalt |
http://www.artsconsulting.com/pdf_arts_insights/insights_sept_2013.pdf |
General |
In is down, down is front. Out is up, up is back. Off is out, on is in. And of course, left is right and right is left. A drop shouldn't and a 'block and fall' does neither. A prop doesn't and a cove has no water. Tripping is okay. A running crew rarely gets anywhere . A purchase line buys you nothing. A trap will not catch anything. A gridiron has nothing to do with football. Strike is work (in fact, a lot of work). And a green room, thank God, usually isn't. Now that you're fully versed in theatrical terms, break a leg. But not really. |
Kerry | Chafin | https://suite.io/kerry-chafin/2nhw2w1 |
Musical Theatre |
In musical theater you have to be very big and very animated, while film and television are more toned down. |
Kevin | Richardson | http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/k/kevinricha292397.html |
Playwriting |
In my plays I want to look at life -- at the commonplace of existence -- as if we had just turned a corner and run into it for the first time. |
Christopher | Fry | http://www.satheatre.com/quotes.htm |
Acting, Shakespeare |
In Shakespeare, keep it simple. Don't over-inflect. The speech needs to be naturalistic and simple and accessible as much as possible. |
Ralph | Fiennes | http://www.ifc.com/fix/2011/12/ralph-fiennes-coriolanus-interview |