Timothy Simons Quotes

When I was in Chicago, I was working as a carpenter while I was doing plays. I thought it'd be a fun set construction job, but it turned up to just be a straight-up factory.

I did a brief stint with set design and stage design. And I tried playwriting, too.

I built stages and I did stage management - I think I built the sets twice, I happened to be good with a drill, which is a talent I didn't know I had.

I painted sets before I ever performed.

Building a set is like building a place, but it's a temporary place, because sets usually get torn down. Kind of unfortunate.

When I started producing, it was George Abbott directing and he would let me do the scenery. He just wanted to know where the doors were - the entrances, the exits; the tables, the props - and then I would hire the designer. I took charge of the visuals - scenery and costumes and so on. And, the shows looked wonderful.

I wanted to be a set designer when I was young.

I went to the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago.

After college, I was an intern at the New York Theater Workshop. In the mornings, I would build sets and hang lights, and in the afternoon, I would be the reader for auditions.

I'm still really into set design and construction when I do films. I notice that stuff.

I worked out a rather deep-dish theory defining the theater as a form of architecture rather than a form of literature.

I also grew up building theatrical scenery. I spent many years building scenery as a large part of my income and that allowed me to really develop my shop skills.

Architecture was always the plan. I always figured I'd just do theater on the side.

I paid my way through college as a carpenter and a woodworker. So I've built the house I live in and most of the furniture that's in it, and I do a lot of woodworking still.

Working on a play is a vibrant and collaborative business. Everyone from the choreographer to the music director to the director to the writers work together toward the same goal, and everyone chimes in on everything.

For films, the process is that you work consistently and constantly for 3-4 months and then leave; whereas for a play, you prepare for about a month and then continue performing it for 5 to 6 months.

Theater in Chicago will always be my first love. It started careers for me and about 50 of my friends. We all love coming back. As soon as the TV show is over, I'll be back in Chicago, doing live theater.

I don't look back. I look forward and plan new shows. That's really feeding the most important part of working in the theater.

I think a playwright realizes after he finishes working on the script that this is only the beginning. What will happen when it moves into three dimensions?

Acting isn't for me. I don't like being told what to do. I'm more interested in set design, more visually driven.

One fine day I discovered that more complex plays really have to be directed.

There's a kind of dynamic quality about theater and that dynamic quality expresses itself in relation to, first of all, the environment in which it's being staged; then the audience, the nature of the audience, the quality of the audience.

I love working in the theater.

I really wanted to go to a city and get involved in a theater scene and a theater community. I had some friends who had moved out to Chicago and had said really good things about it and about the work. I didn't care at that time about making money.

I have been in the business long enough to know what an intense amount of work it takes to operate a theater company.