Scott Ellis Quotations

When you're working on a play like 'Sloane,' that play works; you don't have to worry about that. When you're working on a new play like 'Little Dog,' you have no clue if the play works. You're exploring.

My first time ever on the Tony Awards was in 1984, the year of 'The Rink.'

My directing style has changed over the years. I allow things to breathe a lot more.

My acting experience has been a benefit. What I learned from directors is how to listen to and talk with actors. I know how they think and what they need.

I don't consider myself a flashy director. A lot of times, people will look and don't even know what I do.

Casting, to me, is always the same. It's a very important part of a director's job. I pick people that I sense I'd like to be in a room with and will enjoy the rehearsal process with because that's the best part.

I feel that once you go into rehearsal, you need to focus on the show in the room.

I get to choose the people I work with.

If the furniture doesn't come, I'll scrounge up some old stuff myself.

I always have to come back to shows to take out the improvements actors have put in. Laughs are addictive, and sometimes they're good laughs, and sometimes they're bad laughs.

'On the Twentieth Century' was always something I wanted to do because of Kristin Chenoweth.

We wouldn't restrict it to just them. The things we do should benefit all students.

We just do it that way because we don't think that's the way the law is supposed to be imposed.

'Twelve Angry Men' was done with an intermission, and I took that out. I really wanted an audience to feel like they had no break, just like those jurors, and you're not going to get out of that room until you come to a decision.

The smartest thing a director can do is surround himself with really good people.

The theatre show-biz types don't change much, no matter what era we're in. The question of how you balance being in show business with your personal life isn't very different.

The thing I like about these kinds of boats is that you can get them in extremely shallow water, which is a big plus when you're going out to the islands around here. And the maneuverability is a big plus. It handles like a big Jet Ski. I've lived in Florida since I was 3 and owned a lot of boats, but this is one of the best to have in this part of Florida.

Actors are smart. They have to feel safe enough to fall and to get back up. My job is to make sure they don't get hurt.

Any director who comes into a revival owes a great deal to the original director. If I know the backbone works, it gives me, as a director, much more freedom to bring something new to it or try something different.

As an actor, you don't have control over what you do, whom you work with.

You can't live like a monk if you have two five-year-old twins. That ain't happening. Just the opposite, actually.

This is the part of the building where people don't have to be quiet.

A bad laugh is a laugh for the sake of a laugh that's out of character.

The night before 'The Elephant Man' opened, we had a sleepover for 12 kids. Being organized is the key.

I'm big on research. I love research, so I tend to do a lot of reading.

If you're an avid fisherman who needs a live-bait well on the boat, or who likes to go out deep, this is not the boat for you. Maybe that kind of boat is on the horizon, but not right now. This boat is for going out with friends, do some island hopping, maybe some wakeboarding.

Being a twin, and knowing if my twin was gone or lost - that's a part of me. There's no way I could be the same person knowing my brother had passed away.

I do feel the civil traffic charges are fair in that the state has pretty much determined that money is to be a decent source of revenue to fund the courts rather than raising filing fees even higher,

'You Can't Take It With You' has eighteen people onstage at one point. Musicals entail a larger collaboration, and I love that.

A good actor can take an audience on a journey. They make you forget who they are.

The challenge of a revival is how to bring something fresh. The reward is the opportunity to add different flourishes. You're dealing with different actors, designers and a different time.