Playwrights on Writing

His own failure to understand a situation leaves the ‘Bengal Tiger’ creator mulling some of the subtlest aspects of communication.

The playwright ponders the relative ease and financial advantages of turning out movie scripts rather than toiling over theater projects, which have their own rewards.

And that’s precisely what bothers some people. All that structure and all that plot may keep the audience interested, but some say they confine creativity.

Write, test, listen, cut, rewrite. Five playwrights on the drama of development at South Coast Rep

The phrase ‘sad little play’ hung in his mind -- no way did he want them applied to his new script. Perhaps it was time to rearrange his thinking.

Adapting Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s ‘The Bandwagon’ was a labor of love for Douglas Carter Beane.

Yes, the director should be in charge now, only the author is the director. Fortunately, she’s learned humility.

To lure a new generation, shelve the tried and true. Let the audience learn to imagine again.

In a world where fact and fiction blur, sometimes invention is the shortest route to truth.

When great actors are denied great roles because of their skin color, there’s a problem. Even if they are white.

Dead? Just the opposite. Theater is very much alive, because it’s live. And best of all: You get to share it.

What would boost the odds of our Round Table romp becoming a Vegas success -- a nude King Arthur on ice?

Whenever I try to write a worthwhile play, I find it helps to see just how awful I can be.

My wildly careening career ride may have seemed like a string of detours, but as it turned out, it didn’t take me a single mile out of my way.

There’s no mapping it out. Stories can come from the dramas that just happen to unfold, often things you can’t foresee.

Responsibility is a burden, and we in Culture Clash often feel its weight. But would we be true to ourselves if we settled for a song and dance?

Billy Crystal started writing “700 Sundays” as a meditation on his father’s premature death. Reliving the anguish, healing and humor, he’s learned to trust his instincts — and his audience.

Lying. Some people might call it pathological. Rick Cleveland calls it “The Beginning of How I Became a Writer.”

That movie, that play, that war — its title may not be logical, or barely true. One can rail against it or, quite simply, join in.

The road to “Avenue Q” has had more than a few bumps and turns. But the audience is always there giving clear directions about which way we need to go.

One wouldn’t expect an elderly gay transvestite to be so beloved, but rooting for the underdog is a reminder that through insecurity comes strength.

Art takes us to a place that journalism can’t: the psychological heart of the characters in an epic story like the buildup to war against Iraq. Hence my play “Stuff Happens.”

Nothing’s better than a coffee shop — or a deli or barbecue joint or taco stand — for overhearing honest conversation and witnessing L.A. life uncensored.

In studying the folk tales that were handed down by my people in bondage to teach and comfort, I learned vital lessons about the people themselves. And that led me to create “Flight,” set on a plantation in 1858.

I had a happyish childhood.

If we’re formed by our experiences, shouldn’t our work be as well? Even Shakespeare cribbed from Cervantes and other earlier work.

Writing books is scant preparation for the collaborative land mine of writing for stage or screen.

Playwright Donald Margulies finds in his home borough not only a tug to the traditional but the allure of the unknown.

The West Coast’s brand of democracy beckoned, and I had to heed the call. Somewhere between the paid petitioners and tree-sitters, I found a spirit to admire.

How the relationship between Sabina Spielrein and Carl Jung -- and Freud -- inspired me to dramatize Jung’s tormented life.

Part of writing a play is letting it go.

The effort to really hear the dialogue, as well as the pauses in between, is the theatergoer’s greater reward.