Choosing to write a play is some kind of surrender. I don't make an outline. I sit and work, and suddenly the door opens, and out it comes.
— David Rabe
There's no demand for a body of work, though writers will be criticized for not having produced one.
Often my characters don't know what the issues of the play are. They think they're doing one thing, but something else is actually orchestrating their lives.
I wrestled with my Catholicism for a long time. It took a long time to escape. It began with a sense that it was repressive, stern, judgmental. It was passionate, but it was terrifying. There were individual priests and nuns who were helpful, but the religion was cold.
I never found a professional environment that made the production of plays efficient. Teamwork is demanded, but there are very few teams.
Sometimes it's learning how the play wants to function rather than imposing something on it. For me, that's the thrill in directing.
My writing was liberated once I abandoned acting.
