Joan Cusack Quotes

Every week it's another opportunity to really make that work and figure out how to make it work better. And I love that it's like theater, too, and the audience, and it's so short. It's only 20 minutes. It's like a haiku or something.

I hate the actor and audience business. An author should be in among the crowd, kicking their shins or cheering them on to some mischief or merriment.

I love the theater. I love being on stage; I love the live audience. I also love dressing up and all of the make-believe.

Theater opened up a whole new world for me. It was a freedom I'd never known before.

Theater is about life, not about television or movies.

I realized that theater was the perfect thing for me, in short bursts of intense community building.

I love live theater. I get my rocks off by doing stand-up, and I am the only actor. But to show up eight times a week and not have that time for myself; to do someone else's lines? When I work for Wendy Wasserstein or Terrence McNally, Neil Simon or even Shakespeare, I do not have the right to change the lines.

Late night is no different than making a film, really, except that it's faster, and if you do a crap one, you can do a better one tomorrow. Writing a novel and doing stand-up - that stuff is very similar.

I'm an entertainer, so in whatever form I entertain... The thing about being a rapper is that you have more control over your form, whereas with acting you have to compromise a lot.

I started in theater, and I love to go back to theater, just to have the experience and recharge my batteries, creatively.

My best friend growing up really put the bug in my ear about acting. We created this one hour-and-a-half improv play when we were 10 or 11 and performed it at the library. We just played off each other so well and had the best time doing it and the funniest part was, we wound up having packed houses, other people loved it too.

What I like about theater is its team work. Theater is also all-time creativity.

I love being funny! I started in the theater when I was 9 and, believe it or not, always played the funny part!

I still really love acting. I find it really challenging. And I really love film; it's a lot of fun.

I love performing.

You work with stand-up comedians or you work with somebody in theater, you work with somebody from 'Star Search' or 'Survivor' or a kid, it constantly changes how you play with people.

So what's so enticing about doing a play is that you get to do that thing that got you into acting in the first place... There's a real attraction to being able to play, to just play. And that's something that theater affords you.

Some of the most interesting questions needing to be asked today can best be asked on television, or on stage, and they can be wonderful, great dramas, but they won't necessarily be blockbusters.

You always hear actors say, 'Theater is my first love,' and it is. It's a time when you really get to do what you do, and there's not a lot of waiting around and interruption and not a lot of money involved - sometimes money really clouds the waters of creativity.

I love acting. It is so much more real than life.

I think theater is more about living and breathing, versus TV, which can vary.

Actors are supposed to be these runaways that get in a covered wagon filled with hats and tambourines and go from town to town making people smile.

I have done a lot of street theatre and plays and interacted with the public through radio and television.

I just love performing.

As rewarding as a good film role can be, there is just nothing like getting up on a stage and taking an audience for a ride.