“I wonder if, when teaching something as ephemeral as acting, you have to do this, and that building a scaffold around a muse is how you tether yourself to her. It’s only now, looking back, that I realize how much of what they taught was mulled with this secret knowledge, only relayed in the last moments of their teaching: That for all your adherence to discipline, your observance of the rules of iambic pentameter and how to sit down while wearing a sword without crushing your balls—the chances of you making a living as an actor are cadaverously slim.”