acting

Art doesn__ give rise to anything in us that isn__ already there. It simply stirs our curious consciousness and sparks a fire that illuminates who we have always wanted to be.

If you were born with the ability to change someone__ perspective or emotions, never waste that gift. It is one of the most powerful gifts God can give__he ability to influence.

Never give all the heart, for loveWill hardly seem worth thinking ofTo passionate women if it seemCertain, and they never dreamThat it fades out from kiss to kiss;For everything that's lovely isBut a brief, dreamy, kind delight.O Never give the heart outright,For they, for all smooth lips can say,Have given their hearts up to the play.And who could play it well enoughIf deaf and dumb and blind with love?He that made this knows all the cost,For he gave all his heart and lost.

All the world's a stage.

She looked exactly like an angel. I know my jaw dropped a little, and I just stood there looking at her for what seemed like a long time, shocked into silence, until I suddenly remembered that I had a line I had to deliver. I took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. "You're beautiful," I finally said to her, and I think everyone in the whole auditorium, from the blue-haired ladies in the front to my friends in the back row, knew that I actually meant it. I'd nailed that line for the very first time.

What's it really like to always be the prettiest person in a room? Dos it mean you're always acting as if in a play, because no one stops looking at you?''Life is a play, isn't it?

I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic, and a progressive religious experience.

Didn't they realize that the only way to change things was to act?

Fresh from a costume fitting, where I had been posing in front of the mirror assuming what I thought was a strong position - arms folded, butch-looking...you know - I met with the woman in charge of Holloway police station. She gave me the most invaluable advice: never let them see you cry, and never cross your arms. When I asked why, she said 'because it is a defensive action and therefore weak.

Some disabled people spend a significant amount of their energy on trying to come across as abled or as not that disabled.

ligion is the opiate of the masses." "I did masses of opiates religiously.

Even the world__ greatest actor cannot fake an erection.

I think I know where my life went wrong. For all the world's a stage and I'm a lousy actor!

The world is shaped by two things _ stories told and the memories they leave behind.

A lot of parents tell their children that if they want to be an actor, that's fine, but they should do something else first, so they've got something to fall back on. It doesn't work like that, as far as I'm concerned.

If you don't lose first you are not entitled to win.

I__e never liked the term __ctor_._ Barron spoke slowly, joining hands with the cast members to his left and right. The rest of them formed a circle, also holding hands, and he continued. __eriously now, is anyone here __cting_? Is anyone here pretending? __e, I__ a theater director. One hundred percent, all the time. I__ not pretending, or acting, or trying to fool anyone. This is what I do, and I give it my all__ust like you. I look around me, and I don__ see a single phony. I see people who give their hearts, their minds, and their very lives to being serious performers on the stage. In the last weeks I__e watched every one of you give up the easy life to come here and bust a gut to make this show a reality. __hat__ why I call you performers. Not actors__erformers. Because when it__ time to prepare, you work out every nuance of a role. When it__ time to step in front of the crowd, you reach out and pull them in with both hands. When it__ time to say your lines, you deliver them with skill and meaning. That__ performance. And there__ nothing phony about that. There__ nothing pretend about that. There__ no acting that will take the place of that. __nd so that__ my wish for you tonight: Have a great performance. You__e done the work, you__e ready, and now it__ time to show off. Have fun out there, gang. Perform._ --Jerome Barron's opening night pep talk to the cast of Death Troupe

You face an audience and prepare to speak. Fear will be there, if you're alive. There is, of course, no shortage of feeling up there. It is an extreme act, unusual, testing you in unparalleled ways. It speaks to the core of who you are, and why you do what you do. These challenges, they exist in life and become acute on stage.