John Tiffany Quotes

Theatre is a living organism. You only know if your show is working when you see it with an audience. You can also tell when it isn't working - it's horrible, and you desperately try to figure out how to make it connect.

A prose writer never sees a reader walk out of a book; for a playwright, it's another matter. An audience is an invaluable education. In my experience, theatre artists don't know what they've made until they've made it.

Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.

I love the instantaneous nature of filming rather than the repetition of working in the theatre, but that maybe because I haven't had great experiences working in the theatre.

If you don't get feedback from your performers and your audience, you're going to be working in a vacuum.

I went into performing for the community. Being backstage with your company of fellows is the best part of working in live theater. That energy, that combined focus, the synergy - it's addictive.

I go on at least 2-3 auditions a week in the pursuit of more work. So I'm constantly working on material and constantly honing and trying to perfect a craft that is never perfectible - it's always new, and it's always different. It's always a work in progress.

No matter how good you might be in a movie, you'll never be any better. But in a play, I can be better next Tuesday. That's the thrill of it.

When you do a drama, you are challenged to trust your inner voice much more. Because when you put a comedy in front of even a 25-person screening, you know whether it's working or not. The barometer is overt.

When I was younger, I would go to auditions to have the opportunity to audition, which would mean another chance to get up there and try out my stuff, or try out what I learned and see how it worked with an audience, because where are you gonna get an audience?

The beautiful thing about theater is every night is an opportunity to incorporate what you discovered the night before.

I thought of school as a captive audience. It gave me a chance to work on my material.

In theatre, there is a unique feeling of everyone working as a team, which you never get in films.

When we were in the studio working stuff out, and even when we were on stage, the music was a priority.

One of the great things about doing a play, repeating it over and over again, is that you can practice. And you can get really quite good at it for a while.

When I bring my music to a live audience, I know right away whether it is being appreciated or not.

Movies, you can insulate yourself more from audience, to a degree, and just look at box office. In theater, the audience is a very dynamic part of your process, and you feel much more exposed.

I'm supposed to make plays.

It's astounding how challenging plays are... The scary part is that you get to encounter humanity in a way you don't in films. The audience amplifies the experience.

My first real job as a director was working with Robbie Baitz on his play 'Three Hotels.' It was an incredible collaboration.

The way that I write is I just write a ton of music in the background of my life, and then I just bring it into rehearsal. It's, like, 'Okay, guys. It goes like this. Let's smooth it out.'

Get an Alan Bennett script; then everybody will want to do it, no matter how big they are.

In the theater, you get very close with everyone, and you have to because you're with each other all the time. I respect it. It's a challenge, but it's very worth the hard work.

I actually have a theater company called Strangemen & Co. I'm the artistic director and co-founder.

The real writing of a piece comes only when you are performing it. It is why I like theatre. In film and TV, the image is locked forever, but in theatre, there is constant change; each performance is part of the writing process.