Joe Mantello

“I was probably the only 10-year-old who adored Sandy Dennis.”

“I think the audiences in Chicago are really open. They're engaged and eager, and they don't feel cynical to me. Sometimes in New York, there's a sense of, 'Prove it to me; prove this is worth my time.' I never felt that in Chicago.”

“Alison Pill is the unsung hero of 'Three Tall Women' to me. She's extraordinary in this part, and she makes it look easy. I'm just in awe of her.”

“Is it perfect? Absolutely not! But there was an audience for 'Wicked,' and our producers were smart enough to reach that audience.”

“One of my favorite experiences was '9 to 5,' for one reason: Dolly Parton. I learned what it means to really work hard and do it with a sense of humor about yourself. Every day was joyful.”

“I think actors are brave souls that have to use parts of themselves that I'm just not comfortable doing anymore.”

“I have a responsibility to diversity onstage, but one of the things I've heard about our production of 'Boys' is that it's a bunch of white guys. Well, race is a component of this play. You can't just drop people in willy-nilly and say, 'Well, we're going for diversity.'”

“I don't believe really good plays - interesting plays, complicated plays - can mean just one thing to every single person in the audience.”

“I do not resent Sarah Jessica Parker. We've been friends for decades. I just do not like what 'Sex and the City' did to my neighborhood.”

“There are plenty of other actors who are wonderful that just don't work in a way that I work, or our methods aren't necessarily compatible. But then there are those you instinctually just are drawn to.”

“In 'The Humans,' there's a gay character, and the fact that she's gay is probably the least interesting thing about her.”

“I think that from day one, when it became clear that 'Wicked' was going to have a life, that we have set a standard for ourselves that we are never going to shortchange the audience; that every person that we put into that musical is going to be held to the highest standards; and that nobody is going to be coasting.”

“I'm friendly with Laurence Luckinbill. He's a great man.”

“I was a member of Circle Rep; I had done a little bit of directing there. I remember that I had a vacation from 'Angels', in which I remounted a play that I had done out of town called 'Three Hotels.' That's how I spent my week vacation.”

“I think good actors - good, collaborative actors who see themselves as leaders in a given production - can and should offer ideas that have nothing to do with wanting to direct themselves.”

“I like to hire the kind of people that I would want to be on stage with.”

“One of the jobs of a director is to ask questions. One of the jobs of the director is to stand in for the audience until they get there.”

“I'm comfortable with bad news. I feel confident in my ability to solve the problem if I know that there's a problem.”

“Jayne Houdyshell and I - when I was 17 years old - did summer stock together at the Timber Lake Playhouse in Mt. Carroll, IL. She was the leading lady of the company, and I was an intern.”

“If I hadn't gone into the theater, I would be a painter.”