Like a dog, a playwright lives in an eternal present and a play is never closed. John Guare More Quotes by John Guare More Quotes From John Guare The rich live hand-to-mouth too-just on a higher level. John Guare mouths inspirational hands What I hate about kitchen-sink dramas is [this idea] that the set is real, therefore you're going to be seeing truth. You have to earn truth. Truth can't be a part of the fact that people appear to talk that way and live in that room. You're looking for the poetry in something, and I don't mean poetry in the fancy sense. Naturalism believes by just replicating a thing you give the truth, rather than earning the truth. John Guare hate real drama Oh, I never use a seat belt. I don't believe in gravity. John Guare use science believe Everyone talks about America, this great country. You hear, "I'm more patriotic than you are. No, I'm more patriotic!" But how few people know the history of this country and how we came into being. That's the part that just amazed me. John Guare patriotic country america Every play is so important. It's a record of what life was like at the time you wrote that play or that book. John Guare important play book I'm an American playwright. Tennessee Williams got in all our DNA. John Guare playwright dna tennessee Eugene O'Neil created an American theater, and Tennessee Williams taught it how to sing. John Guare taught theater tennessee James Joyce wrote the definitive work about Dublin while he was living in Switzerland. We're all where we come from. We all have our roots. John Guare where-we-come switzerland roots You can't be a sort of pioneer. John Guare pioneers I think a playwright must be his own dramaturg. John Guare playwright thinking I think a playwright must be his own dramaturg. I believe in a theater where the director and the playwright work together to create what they need. John Guare working-together believe thinking You can't kind of take away, you either do or you don't. If you kind of take away something you're a failure. John Guare kind ifs Sometimes you have to protect the life of the play. It seems like spelling out mysterious, musical details can destroy a play by making the motivations too clear, too simplex. John Guare musical motivation play There's no American playwright after 1945 who wasn't profoundly affected - who didn't have their DNA changed by Tennessee Williams. John Guare changed dna tennessee We're all where we come from. We all have our roots. John Guare where-we-come roots The New York City Ballet is always about the realm of possibilities, the realm of what the human body can do, what the human spirit can do. And it's about listening, it's about listening to remarkable music and how we respond to that. John Guare city new music body I ushered at the Shubert in New Haven during graduate school when plays en route to Broadway still went out of town to try out. I worked backstage at summer stock doing jobs from garbage man to strapping on Herbert Marshall's wooden leg to fixing Gloria Swanson's broken plumbing in her dressing room with her yelling at me as I worked the plunger. John Guare me man broken school Plays have a celebratory nature that no other form has. Theater always meant celebration, a birthday, a reward for good grades. I felt at home in a theater. I loved being part of an audience. All the rules - the audience has to see the play on a certain date at a certain time in a certain place in a certain seat. John Guare good nature time birthday The ballet makes us look at those bodies, it makes us listen to that music, it makes us wonder at the geometry, of the way they come together. The way that extraordinary space is controlled and given such emotional force. John Guare look music space together To stay around any place you love, you have to have a job. In college at Georgetown in the fifties, I got my first theater job checking coats at the National, which was Washington's main theater. John Guare place job you love