[NEohioPAL]Quote from Stella Adler

[jenruffner at att.net]

Someone posted this quote today on the Atlanta theatre group list, and I thought I would pass it along to the Cleveland list, in light of all the "professional" discussion going on.

"The need of a young actor to act is stronger than an intelligent 
nonprofessional can comprehend. The world may think that an actor's ambition is 
focused on an appetite for money, success, and fame. Even those actors who admit 
to these aims tell only part of the story. The theatre is different from most 
other professions because it requires its dedicated practitioners to struggle 
toward a brutally honest, creative way of life. 

"All tangible professions that are recognized and understood are good; but they 
tend to be too confining for an actor's chaotic psyche. Once channeled in the 
theatre and through acting, the actor quickly realizes the unlimited powers of 
imagination. A blossoming of emotional range follows this realization. Plays are 
no longer read for amusement, they are studied to learn about life. The world is 
no longer an occasional space for vicarious being; it is a constant staging area 
for vital engagement. The actor ceases to be an observer on the fringe of life, 
but feels permission to investigate, audaciously, life's every nook and cranny."

- Stella Adler