Theater Challenges Quotes

It's interesting to me because theater is, on any given day, 10,000 times harder than film and television. And that's not to say film or television can't be hard or challenging; it's emotional to do the same thing over and over and over. But in terms of stamina, there is nothing like an eight-show week to separate the men from the boys.

It's a very tough time for the playwright. Broadway has become almost a musical comedy theme park with all these long-running shows.

Any play is hard to write, and plays are getting harder and harder to get on the stage.

L.A. is not a town that supports a lot of theater. Most of the shows don't get through a week or two and then, the audience kind of disappears.

Theater is completely different from film or television. It has a beginning and a middle and an end and it's different every night. And it's far preferable to any other except in the sense of not getting paid, people who want to eat should do film and television.

Doing theater anywhere, especially in L.A., is a constant uphill battle, and there's also the unsexy parts of the business that you're faced with, like getting money. It's a really great thing to do. You feel like you're really an artist when you're doing that and you're in a company of artists.

I have a hard time retaining the lines. Even on set I make mistakes but I'm okay with that.

Working outdoors in the Delacorte Theater is always challenging.

I want people to know that it's not always dandelions and roses when you're doing something like 'Aladdin.'

With a musical, you kind of have to do a mind-meld with the book-writer, the lyricist, the composer, the director - sometimes the producer. I think that's a reason why musicals are the hardest form.

I love doing theater. Despite the fact that out of theater, film, and TV, theater is the hardest thing to do. It's the least paid, and we all have these bills that we have to pay.

A play is a hard thing, particularly in L.A. It's less expensive than in New York, but there's also less of a commitment to people doing plays than in New York. So it's a strange battle.

Some nights you might go through an entire performance and not feel a thing, and the audience may have a much better time, 'cause if you're enjoying yourself on stage too much, they're having a terrible time because they can't hear you. And if you're a woman your mascara's running.

The theater is a tough place. It's not cushioned the way it is in film and television.

When you're reinterpreting the same material eight shows a week, it's impossible to lock in the 'ideal' performance. Things that felt great in previews can feel forced three months in; jokes that got big laughs in the rehearsal room may suddenly fall flat in front of a paying audience.

L.A. is so focused on TV and film that theater is kind of an arcane sport. People look at you like you're doing something cute.

Let's just say that the theater is not for the faint of heart.

One has always got to be terribly careful, since the theater is made up of a whole bunch of prima donnas, not to let the distortions occur.

New York is not conductive to theater. New York does not encourage its young. It does not encourage experimentation.

It was tough doing 'Underneath the Lintel' in New Jersey in the wintertime, but rewarding. Those audiences were lively and interactive. On-stage was great, but off-stage was difficult.

You hear about all the great British thespians doing stuff on the West End and that kind of thing, and I missed out on that. Alan Rickman actually suggested to me that I should try it. And I thought, "Geez, I really don't want to do that." But he must have recommended it for a reason, so when an opportunity came up, I took it. And it was tough. It was hard! But by the end of it, I absolutely loved it.

It's hard to convince your agents and managers to do theater, because it's not as financially rewarding and it takes up a lot of time.

Part of the problem with producing contemporary political theater in America today is that many theaters don't have flexibility or resources, be it hiring a lot of actors or staging a work that might be tough for some audience and board members.

I've seen productions where it feels like the actors are just tired and want to go home. That is one of the challenges doing theater - especially a long production - how to keep it alive for yourself and the audience.