Books.

I just finished Arthur Laurents' book, Mainly on Directing. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in directing, musical theatre, great shows, or any combination of these three. While it occasionally turns into an outlet for an old man to deliver snippy side-notes about past collaborators, it's a pretty fascinating look into both the art and business of theatre. And sometimes it takes Arthur Laurents candidly admitting his mistakes for me to remember that we can't expect ourselves to be perfect directors, artists, or people after only 20 years of life. If he's still learning, I'm pretty sure it's okay to admit that I still am, too. Some little gems I made note of and felt like sharing:

"What must come first, what is  basic to acting in a musical, is grounding the performance in emotional reality. That, of course, is basic to acting in a play, to acting in anything; but in a musical, that reality is harder to find and even harder to hold on to, because it is so covered with the language of the musical. The director's first task--and it's worth all the time it may take--is to make sure every one of his actors locates his emotional reality."

On the death of his long-term lover: "We were together for fifty-two years. I'm unable to live through the empty space; I can only survive."

"Why do directors direct? To be in control? To achieve the success they couldn't as actors? To produce theatre that gives the audience an experience only theatre can--moves them, excites and entertains, illuminates, and always makes them want to see more theatre, that's the desired answer."