For years I've said it as self deprecating a joke — I have enormous passion for the work, I have no ambition — and people laughed, and I laughed with them. I then recently I heard a colleague who I respect very much say something similar - so I decided to find out if it was actually true in myself. What follows is my answer.

Design Is Interpretive Before I trained as an actor, I studied set design for two years. I never intended to become a designer. That period permanently rewired how I understand theatre. I learned to read space as text, material as meaning, structure as pressure. The set was not background. It behaved like another character: sometimes resistant, sometimes generous, never indifferent. That sensibility bled into how I think about every design element. Set, lighting, costume, sou

Recently, I found myself in the theatre, watching a production that—at least initially—didn’t land for me. The pacing felt off. Choices that might have seemed bold to others felt clumsy to me. By the final curtain, my first instinct was to write it off as simply “bad theatre,” and to judge the artists involved accordingly.

Sam Shepard's "True West" - 1984 (John Malkovich and Gary Sinise). Great Theatre! Originally aired on PBS January 1984. Starring John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Sam Schact, and Margaret Thomson. Directed by Allan Goldstein. Produced by Howard K. Grossman and John H. Williams. Copyright © 1983 True West Video Productions. Awesome Theatre!

Understanding Stanislavski's principles, regardless if you consider yourself a method actor or not, is crucial for actors.