Beginning the discussion with the question of when, or if, work becomes fun, our guests, lead actors all--Jane Alexander, Bill Irwin, Angela Lansbury, Cynthia Nixon, and Geoffrey Rush--also talk about how they choose roles and whether they'd consider playing smaller roles on the stage today; what they feel from an audience and how they react as audience members; their relationship to, and the role of, the stage manager; how much they consciously set the tone for the company; how they balance the thoughts of the playwright and the director -- and how they handle it when the two don't agree; and whether they follow stage directions from the existing script.
