Theater Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old theater quotes, theater sayings, and theater proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Live theater to me is much more free than the movies or television. Eartha Kitt
The theater is the only branch of art much cared for by people of wealth; like canasta, it does away with the brother of talk after dinner. Mary Mccarthy
Musical theater is great; you get painted up, you get to play princesses and witches, and you sing. The joy alone of that can really carry a lot. Chris Pine
The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life. Arthur Miller
Theater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theater. William Ralph Inge
In theater, they say a theater piece is only as good as its transitions. Reggie Watts
I think theater is a core need of a community. Sam Underwood
To me, theater is the mecca; if you really love to act, that's where it's the most fun, by a long shot. Scott Caan
Theater is the most enriching and thrilling thing to do as an actor. Paul Rudd
The theater, bringing impersonal masks to life, is only for those who are virile enough to create new life: either as a conflict of passions subtler than those we already know, or as a complete new character. Alfred Jarry
The theater is magical and addictive. Angela Lansbury
In the theater, characters have to cut the umbilical cord from the writer and talk in their own voices. Irwin Shaw
Theater is a living creature. It takes a while to break in, like a new pair of shoes. Darren Criss
The theater is a tough place. It's not cushioned the way it is in film and television. Patti LuPone
What I like about theater is its team work. Theater is also all-time creativity. Goenawan Mohamad
When you are performing in theater, you feel so connected to your audience. It's exhilarating! Laura Marano
The trick about the theater is at the end of the day you cannot take any of it personally. William Ivey Long
It's street theater. You have to make it entertaining so people don't get bored and walk away. Jason Statham
When theater becomes a soothing middle-class thing, when it's packaged as the Night Out, then that's the death of it. Ralph Fiennes
To be in theater you have to be a kind of psychologist, for you're always trying to understand character and motives. John Eldredge
The theater needs continual reminders that there is nothing more debasing than the work of those who do well what is not worth doing at all. Gore Vidal
The energy of live theater is indescribable. You are just in the moment for an hour and a half. Adrianne Palicki
What people really want in the theater is fantasy involvement and not reality involvement. Edward Albee
Theater for me at one point was a lifestyle, too. Al Pacino
Theater is a space where you cross over from everyday life, because there are real people in that moment moving in front of you - you're being invited to believe in a story and cross that bridge. Cate Blanchett
In the theater, everything is ephemeral. Everything is almost weightless and without a very clear definition of how you made it. Rafael Vinoly
Let's just say that the theater is not for the faint of heart. Phylicia Rashad
What is needed in the theater, in fact for all our art forms, is a vibrant critical tradition. F. Sionil Jose
Theater has to resonate in your heart in a way that movies don't. Harvey Fierstein
Theater has an incredible capacity to move people to social change, to address issues, to inspire social revolution. Eve Ensler