Theater should address the stories of its communities, or I don't know why it's here.
— George C. Wolfe
I'm the most democratic fascist you'll ever meet. I listen to everybody, and then I make a decision.
I'm perpetually interested by living in places as an artist confronting challenges I've never confronted before and approaching them with as much craft and humanity as I can.
I'm convinced whenever something opens on Broadway, it's a miracle. It's a miracle that people survived.
Doing any kind of culture in America in which you are not trying to affirm a European aesthetic is war.
It may take a while, but I think 'On the Town' has the potential for us to break down the boundaries between the traditional theatergoer who may have fond memories of the musical and those with a 'Broadway-is-not-for-me' agenda.
Generally, the realm in which black playwrights have been allowed to achieve success has been social realism or musicals.
A lot of directors tend to manipulate actors' vulnerability to get what they want, and that can work.
Racists are deficient as human beings.
When 'Jelly's' went out on tour, no one really wanted it. It was undersold. And I knew if I gave 'Noise' to someone else, they would sell it as 'Stomp' with little dancing black boys.
I like to knock down walls and allow others to enter.
Our lives are connected in ways we can't imagine. They're connected even before we know they're connected.
There is a strange kind of parental pride when 'Topdog' ends up on Broadway, or 'Elaine Stritch.'
I think I am the first person of color to direct a major white play on Broadway. In 1993? That's astounding to me. And horrifying to me.
I could program a 'fabulous, I love it' kind of hit season right now. I'm more interested in breaking boundaries, telling a story, defying a truth that has been accepted.
I was raised to believe that other people's suffering was my responsibility.
Anytime you create art, you create a mess. I mean, 'Hamlet' is a mess!
I want to create a theater that looks, feels, and smells like America.
I feel like I'm edgy and I'm funny and I got this bite, this outrageousness.
The rules I sort of live by for my theater career, which I hope to live for my film career, is that if there's something that intrigues me or fascinates me, or I don't know how to do it, then I should do it.
I feel like I've been very blessed in the sense that I've had the veracity of spirit to not be stopped and, at the same time, the protective energy and the generosity of those who have come before me, who saw something inside of me and, therefore, invited me into rooms that I would not have been inside of otherwise.
I think we all have a primal desire to know as much as we can to find out about where we come from.
In the early '90s or so, I drove my father to Providence, Ky., his hometown, and he was pointing out, 'That's where the doctor's office was,' and 'That's where we bought ice cream.' And he was pointing to empty lots. When you lose communities, what do you have? We often survive by remembering the stories.
I'm interested in exploring how an individual maintains a sense of power in a world that tends to make individuals feel powerless.
The only rule of a musical is that it must maintain its buoyancy.
Commercial theater, in its agenda to appeal to everybody, is often at the expense of the unique vision of the artist.
When I was on dialysis, I willed myself to do 'On the Town.' It accesses my most childlike, joyful love of theater.
Certain events make people come out of their little boxes and become part of the whole.
If you have the talent and passion and commitment, you shouldn't be locked out of the room.
The Public Theater requires one to be very public, and writing requires one to be very private.
As a person of color, I was trained from very early on to see 'Leave It to Beaver,' 'Gilligan's Island,' or 'Hamlet' and look beyond the specifics of it - whether it be silly white people on an island or a family living in Nowheres or a Danish person - to leap past the specifics and find the human truths that have to do with me.
In Los Angeles, wealth and poverty are separated by the freeways. In New York, they're next to each other.
I love Kabuki, Noh theater and bunraku.
I personally am a very big fan of 'Romeo + Juliet.' It had a visceral power to it that I thought was just exhilarating. It was a very arresting and very disturbing and deeply compelling version of the play.
There are a lot of people who will tell you I'm very ruthless. I'm very fierce. If I feel I'm right, if I feel I've been violated, then I am like a warrior from hell!
It's easier to be cynical and edgy and tough rather than overly emotional.
The wonderful thing about theater is that it has so many people involved in the creation of it. The worst thing about theater is that it has so many people involved in the creation of it. That dynamic is thrilling and challenging every time you make a show.
I don't go, like, 'Hmm, I'm now going to create something for the black community.' I just feel this compelling urge. I just feel myself drawn to stories that I feel have a potency and immediacy.
When 'The Normal Heart' first appeared, the sense of urgency was so important.
I've always tried to do shows in a filmic way. I like it when forms smack up against each other.
You've got to make the rehearsal room very safe. You can't bully people, because if you bully people, they're going to freeze and lock up.
There's no place more theatrical than history.
Producing has empowered me as an artist in a specific way. It's forced a certain kind of maturity.
When you're writing, in theory, everybody is serving you. When you're directing, you're serving everybody - in the guise of acting like everybody's serving you. But you're really serving the materials. You're serving the actors. You're in charge, but it's not free.
AIDS is a shared truth - it's not selective in its wrath.
To want to come to New York, you have to have a sense of wonder about the world and a foolish sense of worth about yourself. And I, too, had both of those things.
The world doesn't see a lot of gray. The world sees black and white, and then it understands.
I pride myself on being available to as many people's stories as I possibly can.
When I was little, I remember rehearsing starving so that when I got to New York I would know how to do it.
I'm more attracted to art that smashes than I am attracted to art that sits on a shelf and is beautiful.
