SOURCE: “Advice to Actors,” in The New York Times, Vol. XVII, No. 21981, March 31, 1918.

In the following excerpt of a talk Thomas delivered to acting students, reprinted in The New York Times, the playwright offers advice to actors and an apologia for the theater.

It seems to me that one of the most helpful things that anyone could do for you would be to fortify or to increase your respect for the profession you are entering. In all times in the existence of mankind, even before there was a record or almost a tradition, the theater has existed, and that is because there is something in man's constitution that makes the theater necessary. It wasn't always the strong and respected institution it is now, and at times its members have been regarded as “vagabonds.” We are happy in the fact that it has so considerably developed since that time...