The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that... and all the glory of it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Theater opened up a whole new world for me. It was a freedom I'd never known before.
It was always theater for me. But part of that came out of the fact that I was always acting out as a kid. I was the kid who didn't play well with others.
I think theater ought to be theatrical.
Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake.
Though I acted in hundreds of productions, appeared at the Guthrie Theatre and on Broadway in Amadeus, I discovered in my thirties that I didn't really like stage acting. The presence of the audience, the eight shows a week and the possibility of a long run were all unnatural to me.
I liked being on stage; I just didn't like the theatrical aspect of being in front of people.
The myth that theater isn't for everybody is total nonsense. In the 18th and 19th centuries, everybody in America used to go to the theater all the time. The shows they went to see were big, crazy melodramas that had careening storylines and houses burning down and pretty girls in danger and comedy and death and destruction.
At times as a performer they segregated us in some of theatres.
I used to do theater in L.A., but it got to the point where everything was really showcase-y.
The only theatre I ever saw was Shakespeare.