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It cannot be emphasized too strongly that playing can pull many a director and cast out of a tight spot, freeing all of them from the fear-producing trap of memorizing, characterizing and interpreting. This playing draws upon a very important, almost forgotten, little understood or utilized, and greatly maligned life-giving force --- passion!

— Viola Spolin Theater Games for Rehearsal - A Director's Handbook (1988)

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More quotes by Viola Spolin

That which is not yet known comes out of that which is not yet here.

Improvisation for the Theater 3rd Edition (1999)

Play touches and stimulates vitality, awakening the whole person - mind, body, intelligence and creativity, spontaneity and intuition.

Theater Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook (1986)

Don't initiate! Follow the initiator! Follow the follower.

Improvisation for the Theater 3rd Edition (1999)

The theater workshop can become a place where teachers and students meet as fellow players, involved with one another, ready to connect, to communicate, to experience, to respond, and to experiment and discover.

Theater Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook (1986)

Games develop personal techniques and skills necessary for the game itself, through playing. Skills are developed at the very moment a person is having all the fun and excitement playing a game has to offer--this is the exact time one is truly open to receive them.

Improvisation for the Theater (1963)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Viola Spolin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.