“Any play that makes an audience think out of the box, that makes connections to life and names our pain and by doing so makes our pain subject to thinking and the process of understanding, is doing something inherently political. By promoting understanding, by putting experience in context, by making connections between the normal and the rational, theatre is an act of anti-terrorism. It stimulates courage and a survival spirit. In that sense of political, there are a lot of serious plays doing their work in the world.” ThinkingWorldPlayPainPoliticalSpiritNamesProcessUnderstandingAudienceSubjectsSeriousNormalSurvivalConnectionsBoxesTerrorismTheatreRationalPromotingAnti Terrorism Author:John Lahr
“In Britain, the theatre has traditionally been where the public goes to think about its past and debate its future. The formation of the National Theatre, at the Old Vic, near the South Bank, in 1963, institutionalized the symbolic importance of drama by giving it both a building and state funding.” ThinkingGivingStatesPastBuildingDramaImportanceSouthTheatreDebateBritainFundingSymbolicFormationYouth Theatre Book:Joy Ride: Lives of the Theatricals Source: Joy Ride: Lives of the Theatricals
“Of the modern critics, although I disagree with almost everything she says, I admire Mary McCarthy's eloquence and social observation in 'Sights and Spectacles'; she thinks in print, but she doesn't have a real feel for the stage.” ThinkingFeelsRealSocialModernStageSightCriticsAdmireObservationPrintDisagreeMaryEloquenceSpectacles Author:John Lahr