I don't see the script as just a springboard for my interpretation. You do your best to serve the vision writers have - not by removing yourself from the equation, but by trying to filter what they intended through your artistry.

Joe Mantello

Categorized in : Trying Vision Filters

I think the audiences in Chicago are really open. They're engaged and eager, and they don't feel cynical to me. Sometimes in New York, there's a sense of, 'Prove it to me; prove this is worth my time.' I never felt that in Chicago.

feel me time sometimes

There are plenty of other actors who are wonderful that just don't work in a way that I work, or our methods aren't necessarily compatible. But then there are those you instinctually just are drawn to.

you work wonderful way

I don't believe really good plays - interesting plays, complicated plays - can mean just one thing to every single person in the audience.

person good single believe

Jayne Houdyshell and I - when I was 17 years old - did summer stock together at the Timber Lake Playhouse in Mt. Carroll, IL. She was the leading lady of the company, and I was an intern.

lake lady summer together

'Blackbird' is the only one I've ever wanted to redo. It just haunted me, this play. There was a sense of unfinished business because at the time we did it at Manhattan Theatre Club, there was real momentum to move it to Broadway.

me theatre business time

I am a very fortunate man, and I don't take it for granted. by Joe Mantello

I am a very fortunate man, and I don't take it for granted.

i-am take man fortunate