I've always called myself a writer/performer, not an actor because I basically write what I perform.
What I really like is the marriage of both [writing and acting] - for instance, with Postcards. I don't actually act in it, but I worked on it with Mike [Nichols] as I went along, creating the character, so it was a bit like acting for me.
I don't find writing for the theater that different from writing a rock song.
I think the writing skills of actors are sometimes underestimated.
Writing for theatre is certainly different to writing an essay or any other kind of fiction or prose: it's physical. You're also telling a story, but sometimes the story isn't exactly what you intend; maybe you uncover something you had no idea you were going to uncover.
I want to photograph what I see and put it in a dramatic context. I'm an actor and a writer, and I want to tell these stories and present these shapes, colors and movements as I see them, as I see them serve a narrative. As I see that narrative serve an audience. That's what I want to do.
Sometimes, you write things that sound really great when you're at home but don't work when you shine the light of an audience on them. Great writing and live writing are two separate things.
Lizzy Weiss is such a great writer, and she really writes for the performances.
Writing is very much perceived as something distinct from performance. I don't see it like that.
Stand-up has the best writers, because it's the hardest writing by a million miles.
Anything I write that I consider stage-quality work, I won't give my TV show. I put it in my live show.
