Plays are not written but rewritten, and much of the rewriting takes place at the behest of the director, whose job it is to grapple with the myriad complexities of moving a play from the page to the stage.
I'm supposed to make plays.
Theatre is really difficult, so it's important that you have a director that kind of understands that and is really hands on.
I've been so lucky to work with some great, great writers: Tony Kushner and Yasmina Reza.
I worked on a show called 'West Wing' before. I didn't work with Aaron Sorkin, but he created the show and set the tenor of the show, which was you follow the words of the script perfectly because there's a dramaturgical thing behind it.
Playwrights are naturally wary and protective - God, who's more protective than a playwright? You read a play, the playwright wants to hear from you immediately.
I think everyone's intentions are to become a performer at first. But by the time I was in high school and college, I discovered that I liked writing and that I was probably a little better at it.
I've done a lot of things with theater that I'm very, very proud of.
I'm always reading plays, and when I find something that I really want to do, then I'll make the time to do it.
I began writing for theater, and maybe because of that I've always thought of myself as a theater writer who does work in film sometimes.
My first writing job was with a company called TheatreworksUSA.
It's very hard to be a playwright because it's very competitive.
Theatre director: a person engaged by the management to conceal the fact that the players cannot act.
In theatre, previews are the first draft of a show. I strongly believe that. The only way we can truly tell whether that draft works is by having an audience present.
Most theatre people and composers are like research hounds.
I was with the Jessie Bonstelle Stock Company in Detroit and Buffalo for three seasons - 10 performances and a new play every week. She was an amazing woman who did a great deal for me.
I actually have a theater company called Strangemen & Co. I'm the artistic director and co-founder.
I am an internationally produced playwright.
That's the main lesson I've learned from working in the theater: respect the dramaturgy. I don't want to overwhelm everything with music.
That stupid postmodern emphasis on image over content has slammed us right into a dramaturgy that willfully leaves the audience behind and then resents the fact that they don't 'get it.'
To me, football is very personal. Even as a kid, I looked at football in dramaturgical terms. It wasn't the score that interested me, it was the struggle.
Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
As a playwright, you can cover a lot of waterfront without being able to hold your own against an expert in any of those areas. I have no illusions about that.
I worked out a rather deep-dish theory defining the theater as a form of architecture rather than a form of literature.
I started out producing theatre in New York.
