Theatre enjoys the distinction of two spellings: in British English, "theatre" and in American English, "theater". There is no technical distinction between the meanings of the two spellings, however most theatre artists prefer the English spelling because it creates a historical nod to the ancient Greek term theatron. Some also use the American spelling to designate a theatre building and the English term to reference the art itself, as in the "art of theatre." Theatre is that branch of the performing arts concerned with the creation of stories or narratives for (or with) an audience using combinations of acting, speech, gesture, music, dance, object manipulation, sound and spectacle — indeed, any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In addition to standard narrative dialogue style, theatre takes such forms as opera, musicals, ballet, mime, kabuki, classical Indian dance, Chinese opera, mummers' plays, and pantomime.

Sourced

• I don't like to be my own audience, I find that being my own audience, being in the audience, makes me self-conscious, basically. So I tune in sometimes, with the sound off, to check it out and I back up to it. In the future I will look at it when some time has passed.
  • Madeline Kahn, interview with Charlie Rose, (December 16, 1996) "Charlie Rose - An interview with Madeline Kahn", Charlie Rose, PBS

• All the world's a stage / And all the men and women merely players / They have their exits and their entrances / And one man in his time plays many parts ...
  • William Shakespeare, "All the world's a stage", As You Like It, Jaques (Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166)

• By increasing the size of the keyhole, today's playwrights are in danger of doing away with the door.
  • Peter Ustinov, Christian Science Monitor, (1962) - reported in Colin Jarman (1993). The Book of Poisonous Quotes. McGraw-Hill Professional, p. 104. ISBN 0809236818.

Attributed

• A play is fiction - and fiction is fact distilled into truth.
  • Edward Albee, reported in James Beasley Simpson (1998). Simpson's contemporary quotations: The Most Notable Quotes Since 1950. Houghton Mifflin, p. 398. ISBN 0395430852.

• If you want to help the American theater, don't be an actress, be an audience.
  • Tallulah Bankhead, reported in Evan Esar (April 1995). 20,000 quips & quotes. Barnes & Noble Publishing, p. 806. ISBN 1566195292.

• The theater is a great equalizer: it is the only place where the poor can look down on the rich.
  • Will Rogers, reported in Evan Esar (April 1995). 20,000 quips & quotes. Barnes & Noble Publishing, p. 807. ISBN 1566195292.

• A playwright is a lay preacher peddling the ideas of his time in popular form.
  • August Strindberg, reported in Colin Jarman (1993). The Book of Poisonous Quotes. McGraw-Hill Professional, p. 103. ISBN 0809236818.

• Acting is merely the art of keeping a large number of people from coughing.
  • Ralph Richardson, reported in Ashton Applewhite; Tripp Evans, Andrew Frothingham (2003). And I Quote: The Definitive Collection of Quotes, Sayings, and Jokes for the Contemporary Speechmaker. Macmillan, p. 283. ISBN 0312307446.

• Know your lines and don't bump into the furniture.
  • Spencer Tracy, reported in Ashton Applewhite; Tripp Evans, Andrew Frothingham (2003). And I Quote: The Definitive Collection of Quotes, Sayings, and Jokes for the Contemporary Speechmaker. Macmillan, p. 283. ISBN 0312307446.