What I look for in theater, I really like new work, and I really like the concept of age not necessarily being a defining aspect of who you are or how you act.
Every time I go to the theater, there's something about the atmosphere, seeing something unfold live in front of an audience, that you can't get out of your system.
I seem to be constantly confronted by theater professionals who are more or less annoyed by the prospect of structure.
Being in ballet class, being on the stage, being surrounded by my peers at American Ballet Theater every day, keeps me so humble and grounded. Being in ballet class, I feel, is like this meditation for me every morning.
We did not go to that many movies in a theater in the little town I grew up in.
I never saw a Laurel & Hardy movie in a theater when they first ran, when I was a kid. But as a child, I knew who they were, and knew the culture of it, what they meant.
I've never had any feeling of disconnection between the classical theater, or the contemporary theater, or musical theater, or the thing that we call opera.
I smile so much at the theater my face hurts when I leave.
When I was in New York after I left the Army, I studied for two years at the American Theater Wing, studied acting, which involved dance and fencing and speech classes and history of theater, all that.
Before we had the kids, my husband and I were traveling a lot and working and really enjoying our lives and each other. We both love the theater and books and travel and so we were really having a lot of fun.
When I lived in Los Angeles, I used to live in the Hollywood Hills, behind Grauman's Theater, and I'd always hit the matinees.
My mom had me when she was 19 or 20. And my father was 22 or something. They were working on whatever they could, both of them aiming to be actors in theater.
My parents are avid consumers of art, collectors of African American paintings, and have always gone to the theater. My mother has always been an activist, too. As long as I can remember, we were marching in lines.
I like making movies that people feel inspired by, a film that they will think about a few days after seeing it, and not entertainment that is completely forgettable the moment you walk out of the theater.
For my rock band, I was influenced by things like 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show.' For me, it's live rock n' roll theater.
I did a lot of theater as a kid because I had a bunch of friends who did it.
The menu should be part of the entertainment, part of the dining experience. It's kind of like reading the 'Playbill' when you go to the theater. It should be an alluring and interactive document. Does it have burn marks on it from the candle? If you ever get a greasy menu with food stains on it, it's time to run like hell.
I have never read a review for anything I have ever done, be it for theater or movies, just because. I am really good about that. And YouTube comments. People will hide behind that.
When I came to know theater, drama became valuable to me.
I was into opera as a kid - I'd play 'Carmen' and sing and dance. My mom signed me up for a theater group before preschool, and I never looked back.
I've always been really artistic. I went to an all-girls' private Catholic school, and one of their biggest things was musical theater. I became obsessed with that.
I always wanted to experience what performance would be like without the fourth wall, so I formed a company in Australia, and we did avant-garde theater, playing with gender norms, conversations about race - we just had a box of issues that we wanted to subvert with our stories, with dance.
And I think I'm an adrenaline junkie, and there's nothing that will spike your adrenaline more than sitting in a theater and listen to an audience react to something you've written.
In my opinion, theater shouldn't give advice to citizens.
When I was a little girl, the only real form of entertainment I was exposed to was theater, being raised in St. Louis, and I still love theater, and I think sitcoms are similar to that, in there's a live audience, and you know, I definitely like the comedy of it, too. I like to make people laugh, and I definitely think laughter is healing.
The theater business has allowed me, in a way the movie and TV business has not, to do very, very interesting work. So that's what I do.
Politics, like theater, is one of those things where you've got to be wise enough to know when to leave.
If I wasn't in the theater, I would be a hermit.
I think people in theater are pretty open-minded and objective about the talent and what they can bring to the story they want to tell.
One of my favorite things to do, when the ghost light is on and it's just an empty stage - I'll let my shadow spread right across the theater, and I just say to myself, 'For the next few hours, these folks are my responsibility. I get to share in something that is unique.' It's like church.
I came out of repertory theater, where I worked 50 weeks a year, and I loved working with the people.
We all need to go to good theater; that is what I believe will save it.
I find theater very lazy and artificial, and then when it's not, it lacks refinement.
If I had to put in order what I love to do the most, it would be musical theater, movies, and then television.
I know theater can improve the quality of people's lives, and I know theater can heal. I've worked as a doctor clown in a hospital for two years. I have seen sick kids and sad parents and doctors be lifted and transported in moments of pure joy. I know theater unites us.
Those old westerns are the movies I grew up with on Saturday afternoons at the theater.
