Famous Theatre Quotes
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Directing
Forum Discription: For questions about handling shows, actors, crew, board members, children ...or do we repeat ourselves?
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2562
Printed Date: 10/30/25 at 9:42pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Famous Theatre Quotes
Posted By: ictdramamama
Subject: Famous Theatre Quotes
Date Posted: 8/06/07 at 1:26am
|
Everyone has a favorite quote pertaining to our lives in the theatre, on the stage, etc. Might be fun to post some. For NOW, I am going MAD trying to find an exact quote from (I think) a G.B. Shaw play. Something like; "He who stays behind to sweep the stage while everyone else hurries off to the cast party, is the one who loves the theatre the most." Anyone know the actual quote, the play, etc? Thanks! Da Mama Luvs Ya! ------------- Da Mama Luvs Ya! |
Replies:
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 8/06/07 at 4:06pm
|
my favorite is one from alexander wolcott, a critic and the insperation for The Man Who Came to Dinner
"The set was magnificent, but the actors kept getting in the way..."
(close) ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: ictdramamama
Date Posted: 8/06/07 at 5:08pm
|
Great one... and of course, so true! Boy, have I seen some shows where the actors got in the way ;-)
Da Mama Luvs Ya! ------------- Da Mama Luvs Ya! |
Posted By: B-M-D
Date Posted: 8/06/07 at 8:19pm
|
Well my favorite one is the one that I use in my signature, from My Favorite Year, see below.... although I'm told it may have originated elsewhere.
------------- BD 
"Dying is easy, comedy is hard." |
Posted By: bbpchick
Date Posted: 8/06/07 at 8:46pm
|
This isn't really from a play or anything...but my favorite quote was off a pin on button and it really was just fitting:
Sorry I'm busy....I have REHERSAL.
My other favorite quote is in my signature and it is wise words from my mother:
You are NEVER too old to dress up.
Well....they are famous around here.....
------------- Kendra http://www.murphysblackbartplayer.com - www.murphysblackbartplayers.com You are NEVER too old to dress up! |
Posted By: ictdramamama
Date Posted: 8/07/07 at 12:57am
|
Gee, I love all of these! Again, so true about comedy. I have always believed the greatest dramatic actors are great comedians first. It is very hard to get an honest laugh. ------------- Da Mama Luvs Ya! |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/07/07 at 2:26am
|
There is one I use, now & then, especialy with the local Ockers.
Mainly as they tend to deliver dialoge fast. yet normally speak much
slower. Cocknies do much the same, Unlike most other pohmy accents. I suggest to them that;- "the only difference between a good actor & a great one, is the length of thier pause". I have no idea who first said it, but it seems to get the message across, except after I have said it, they inspect thier hands? I use one in my signature. "Hear the light & see the sound". Which is probably pathetic, at least from the vacant stares I get? Maybe i should change it to "Feel the light", {that's no good because one can anyway!} "Naa aarh fink ah bettah fink t'outag'n" ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 8/07/07 at 11:05am
|
Noel Coward sent Winston Churchill two tickets to the opening of his new play with a letter saying "Bring a friend -- if you have one."
Churchill sent the tickets back with the note: "Can't attend first night; please send tickets for second night -- if you have one." ------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: bbpchick
Date Posted: 8/07/07 at 11:39am
|
Oh burn!! Thats awesome. Go Churchill. ------------- Kendra http://www.murphysblackbartplayer.com - www.murphysblackbartplayers.com You are NEVER too old to dress up! |
Posted By: Kathy S
Date Posted: 8/07/07 at 2:05pm
|
Edith Head said, "You can lead an actress to food and drink, but you can't make her wear what she doesn't want to wear." |
Posted By: eveharrington
Date Posted: 8/07/07 at 4:26pm
|
My favorite "theater" quote is my signature too.
Gaafa I always thought "Hear the light & see the sound" made perfect sense, maybe I'm weird. ------------- "If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights." |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/07/07 at 9:16pm
|
Thanks Eve. When i coined it I thought it made sort of sense, but the more I thought about it, I was convinced I was a complete twit! You have reinforced my confidence so I'm happily to remain so! Yuor a pearler Eve. One more that comes to mind. "theatre is first performed in a 6 inch space between the ears." { I think it might be from a golf adage, not that I'd know - can't stand or even sit thru a game.} ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 8/23/07 at 9:48am
|
I'm in educational theatre, so the theatrical expression, (from retired director Linda Sloan), that has become our unofficial motto over the years is:
"It's all about the process".
Meaning, that opening night is not the only important part. And whether every seat in the house is full does not determine the success of a show. It means that EVERY rehearsal is important to the outcome, as well as being part of the fun! Every dance rehearsal, every crew painting session, every tech rehearsal, and even the strike is part of the overall performing arts experience and part of the fun.
In fact, when I sweep the stage all alone at the end of a successful run has always been one of the proudest and most nostalgic parts for me. I like to compare it to Carol Burnett's final show, where she came out into a pool of light on a bare stage as her Cleaning Lady character.
It can be very poignant to stand on the very spot where only moments earlier hundreds of people were focusing all their attention. But the spot is no longer important to anyone. That's the true magic of theatre. And to me, the auditorium still seems to ring with the echoes of applause as you quietly sweep and reflect on the lingering energy of the performance. It's an odd feeling.
Plus there is a bittersweet feeling of knowing that, while all those exhausting hours are FINALLY over, the "living work of art" that once was your production, is now gone forever and just a memory. You can never go back. If your best friend missed the show, "sorry", it's too late. You can never have THAT cast and THAT set and THAT audience together in one place ever again. Unlike fine art that hangs in a gallery for hundreds of years, our chosen form of "performance art" is very fleeting...
All you can do is grin and daydream about the next production coming up soon. -Dana
------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/23/07 at 12:32pm
|
Your Dinkydie true blue Dana! Which proves out the adage;- 'We are only in the business of making memories' ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 8/27/07 at 10:24am
|
An often used quote I remember from my high school theatre teacher, Dan Seaman, was: "Never explain, never apologize". This applied to actors who interupted his rehearsal by arriving late! He did not want to prolong the interuption by hearing long-winded or lame excuses. He just wanted the actor to rush onto the stage and get into the scene. (door slams in the back of the house)
Actor: "Sorry I'm late but I...
Mr. Seaman: "Never explain, never apologize. We're in Act II, Scene 2, get up there".
-Dana ------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/27/07 at 10:37pm
|
Well i just found out & proved to myself, that i have never had an original thought in my life. "Hear the light' was in fact the title of a book, writen by the stage lighting guru francis Reid, many years ago! I suppose he also wrote one called 'see the sound' as well?   ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: SherrieAnne
Date Posted: 9/09/07 at 2:57pm
|
I've always found this quote from Harvey Fierstein inspiring: "Accept no one's definition of your life. Define yourself."
------------- There's a little bit of diva in all of us. Some just have a larger helping than others. |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 9/11/07 at 12:16pm
|
One of my favorites is from Hello Dolly.
Barnaby tells Cornelius "I might not know if we are in an adventure. So if we get into an adventure you say.....Pudding!"
Here's to hoping we all get to say pudding from time to time. ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: jdlewallen
Date Posted: 9/12/07 at 11:18pm
|
My personal favorite is the one I use in my signature....maybe it's just the loons I get to work with, but I have a feeling it isn't!! ;-) ------------- "Every theatre is an insane asylum..." ---Franz Schalk (1863-1931) |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/13/07 at 1:30am
|
This not a theatre quote, but one I picked up back stage, when I was a wee one. "Never leave a spoon in the sink!". ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 9/19/07 at 12:03pm
|
Patrick....it's interesting that you cited this quote: "I might not know if we are in an adventure. So if we get into an adventure you say.....Pudding!"
I can recall the run of "Assassins", in which you included that word at every opportunity. Is that what you meant? Do you think Byck's "motivation" (can't believed I used that word!) was to have an adventure?
Adds a whole new level to his character! ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 9/19/07 at 12:52pm
|
Gee wasnt there a cool quote in "Pippin" ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: benhamtroll
Date Posted: 9/20/07 at 11:19am
|
One of my favorite quotes that I've used both as an actor and a director is from Michael Caine. It's more of a piece of advice, since it doesn't lend itself easily to a pithy sig. Basically, he was discussing one of his early stage roles, essentially playing a spear carrier. He was standing upstage behind the main actors when the director asked him what he was doing. He replied "I don't have anything to say . . ." The director responded, "Wrong. You ALWAYS have something to say. You just don't get to say it." Best piece of advice I've ever heard for keeping a character alive. The other great quote was advice given by Laurence Olivier to Dustin Hoffman, when Hoffman (a dedicated method man) was agonizing over how to play a role. Olivier looked at him and said, "Just act it." Love it. |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/20/07 at 9:17pm
|
One of the ones I use now & then;- While Film is Art, Theatre is Life, TV is still Furniture. {I think that's how it goes?] ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/20/07 at 11:14pm
|
Fpllowing on from Beenthantroll posting about Sir Laurance. It was sopposed to have been said by the ebcumbered lighting techie of the Old Vic. Att the time Sir Larry was in rehearsing some Shakespieare play or other. The Lampy was having great problems giving them adiquate lighting, When ol' Larry threw a wobbly & admonished the techie about his unprofessional lighting. Saying 'One can't be expecred to work under these condiyions! This would never have happened in Shakespeares or anciet Greek times my boy!" To this the techie replied"Ah yes, but look who they had as thier head lighting tecnician?" [With that he switched off the Mains] "GOD!" [then went home] ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: SherrieAnne
Date Posted: 9/25/07 at 10:37pm
|
Ah - how could I forget my favorite? From A CHORUS LINE, "Hello Twelve...", Cassie: "Listen to your mother: Those stage & movie people got there because they're special..."
------------- There's a little bit of diva in all of us. Some just have a larger helping than others. |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/26/07 at 10:26am
|
If you want to suceed in this business? Get your self a manager & stop handling your self! ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 9/28/07 at 3:07pm
|
gaafa, I have always liked your hear the light see the sound quote.. it comes across as a techie mantra... as we work to transport with sets, lights and other effects, each should transend its own medium if possible... When you do a good tech job, you should be able to smell the place your suppose to be.. ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 9/28/07 at 4:26pm
|
Marty I've been around you after a full day working on the set and believe me we can smell the place you are. ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: jaytee060
Date Posted: 10/07/07 at 7:25pm
|
My favorite theatre quote was by the infamous literati Dorothy Parker after seeing Katherine Hepburn in the dramatic play THE LAKE............
"Miss Hepburn runs the gamut of emotions from A to B."
|
Posted By: doublezero420
Date Posted: 10/09/07 at 4:14am
|
My favorite is (i believe) an Oscar Wilde quote:
"The best two days in any theater person's life are the day he starts a new show and the day the damned thing is over with."
|
Posted By: Nyria
Date Posted: 5/01/08 at 9:16pm
|
Here are some that relate:
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. -Einstein
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. -Einstein “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Adams - Scott Adams (Uncreative people) are ashamed of the momentary passing madness which is found in all real creators - Friedrich Schiller Everyone can act. Everyone can improvise. Anyone who wishes to can play in the theater... If the environment permits it, anyone can learn whatever he chooses to learn, and if the individual permits it, the environment will teach him everything it has to teach. ... 'Talent' or 'lack of talent' have very little to do with it." ------------- NYRIA |
Posted By: John Luzaich
Date Posted: 4/27/09 at 5:48pm
|
One of my favorites is from an old movie with Mae West:
Woman: "My goodness, what a wonderful mink coat you have"
Mae West: "Goodness had nothing to do with it"
before Hubert H. Humphrey was Vice-President and Senator from Minnesota, we forget he was elected Mayor of Minneapolis in 1948 and said "It's amazing how much work get's done when no one worries about who takes the credit". (this later borrowed and used by many others, including me)
two quotes from President John F. Kennedy:
"We all do not have equal talent, but we all should have the equal opportunity to develop our talents".
"I see little of more importance to the future of our country, and our civilization, than the full recognition of the place of the artist"
(said in a speech to students at Amherst College, October 26, 1963) ------------- John cfct@cfu.net http://www.osterregent.org http://www.facebook.com/osterregent |
Posted By: Willow
Date Posted: 8/20/09 at 5:58pm
|
I had a bit of inspiration as to a viewpoint on the director/performer relationsip today - and I turned it into a fancy quote. Feel free to spread it around if you like it: "Together, we are a symphony. I am the Maestro, you are the instuments. With no instuments there would be only silence. With no Maestro, there would be only noise." ------------- ~Willow~ "If you love something...set it on fire." |
Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 8/24/09 at 5:53pm
|
Another one from Oscar Wilde:
"The play was an enormous success, but the audience was a complete disaster!" ------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: teejaystudio
Date Posted: 8/28/09 at 2:40pm
Ahhhhhhhhh. Nice. |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/28/09 at 6:44pm
|
If Theatre is Live, Film is life - TV is still just Furniture! [anon] ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: divewench
Date Posted: 11/19/09 at 8:11pm
|
I always heard it:
"Theatre is Life, Film is Art, Television is Furniture."
And the one we have printed up and posted all over the dressing room and theatre office:
More Theatre, Less Drama
|
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 11/19/09 at 8:29pm
|
Your right divewench - I think I lost something in the Ocker translation? ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Ken W
Date Posted: 12/15/09 at 5:32pm
| My favorite was attributed to Spencer Tracy talking to a young man that wanted to be an actor - "Don't let 'em catch you at it" |
Posted By: chel
Date Posted: 12/17/09 at 8:47am
|
Not inspiring per se, but one of my favorites:
"Actors without techies are just naked people in the dark trying to emote. Techies without actors are people with marketable job skills." ------------- chel www.windhamtheaterguild.org |
Posted By: falstaff29
Date Posted: 12/20/09 at 7:39pm
| In its original context, doesn't apply to theater, but a line that's always resonated with me is Steiner's remark in La Dolce Vita that he's "too serious to be an amateur, but not enough to be a professional." I know that line describes me, and it also describes a lot of the best people I've worked with in community theater, who really work hard to put on high quality shows, demand a lot from themselves and others, and take a special pride in their work, but are also committed to their day jobs and families and life outside the theater. |
Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 1/08/10 at 11:02am
|
"Artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs." G. K. Chesterton ------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 5/23/10 at 7:27pm
|
I came across this on the AACT website in the a 'tip of the month' public section;- Once in a Lifetime On the wall of the lobby of the Performing Arts Guild of South Kitsap, of Port Orchard, Washington, is a sign that read, "Theater is life, film is art, television is furniture. If you have cable, you are probably paying $1200 a year for furniture. If you take a friend to a couple of movies a month and buy popcorn, you are probably paying around $400 a year for art. What can we persuade you to pay for life?" ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: doublezero420
Date Posted: 5/25/10 at 2:08pm
|
“In the theater the audience wants to be surprised but by things that they expect http://thinkexist.com/quotation/in_the_theater_the_audience_wants_to_be_surprised/183197.html - ” - Tristan Bernard
“Theaters are like brothels; one never knows what he will find inside - or whom http://thinkexist.com/quotation/theaters_are_like_brothels-one_never_knows_what/196659.html -
------------- aaron “One of my chief regrets during my years in the theater is that I could not sit in the audience and watch me” -John Barrymore |
Posted By: Spectrum
Date Posted: 8/23/11 at 5:25pm
|
I know this thread is old, but I just discovered a bunch of quotes that I think are worth repeating. Enjoy!
My playground was the theatre. I'd sit and watch my mother pretend for a living. As a young girl, that's pretty seductive. – Gwyneth Paltrow Many plays, certainly mine, are like blank cheques. The actors and directors put their own signatures on them. – Thornton Wilder 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 Theatre going is a communal act, movie going a solitary one. – Robert Brustein ------------- Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional. |