QuoteProject
As a playwright, you are a torturer of actors and of the audience as well. You inflict things on people.
Tony Kushner
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the complex role of a playwright in evoking strong emotions from both actors and audiences.

Tony Kushner's quote highlights the dual focus of a playwright: not only must the playwright challenge and push actors to deliver their best performances, but they must also engage the audience in a way that provokes thought and emotion. The term 'torturer' illustrates the intensity of this creative process, suggesting that art often requires an exploration of difficult themes or emotions, thereby transforming both the performers and spectators through that shared experience.

Themes

PlaywrightArtEmotionAudienceActors

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a talk about the emotional impact of theater at a drama festival.

More from Tony Kushner

A handful of works in history have had a direct impact on social policy: one or two works of Dickens, some of Zola, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and, in modern drama, Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart.'
Tony KushnerRead
Artists know that diligence counts as much, if not more, as inspiration; in art, as in politics, patience counts as much as revolution.
Tony KushnerRead
I don't understand why I'm not dead. When your heart breaks, you should die
Tony KushnerRead
In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead.
Tony KushnerRead
The way that same-sex marriage should reach the federal level is that it absolutely should be decided by the Supreme Court as quickly as possible. It's a 14th Amendment issue. There's no argument about it.
Tony KushnerRead
Gay TV has been immensely important in transforming American culture in a more gay-positive direction.
Tony KushnerRead

Similar quotes

Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.
Ansel AdamsRead
Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future.
David WhyteRead
That's what you're looking for as a writer when you're working. You're looking for your own freedom. To lose your inhibition to delve deep into your memory and experiences and life and then to find the prose that will persuade the reader.
Philip RothRead
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As if some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--Only this and nothing more.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
My writing is inspired by where I come from, where I am today, and where I hope to go some day.
Jacqueline WoodsonRead
Architecture adds dimensions to my life that would be impossible to acquire if I retired. The beautiful thing about architecture is that every project is brand new. I am forced to renew myself with every project. Isn't that wonderful?
Cesar PelliRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.