I have admiration for people who can do it well – the guys who wrote ‘Cheers’ and ‘Frasier.’ They created sort of a blissful comedic universe.

I write a lot because, if I don’t, I start to panic, and I calm down when I write.

I like to write. Prolific is part of who I am.

There’s a thing that happens to Midwesterners – we spend a lot of time talking about having a different set of rules about manners. I don’t know about ethics, but certainly about manners, what you would say and what you wouldn’t say. And that is not very East coast

Some of my family goes back a long way in Denver.

I have huge admiration for Jesus Christ and for his incredible compassion for all people.

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.

I think it goes without saying that young would-be playwrights in developmental workshops should be so lucky as to write plays as good as ‘Waiting for Godot,’ ‘Uncle Vanya’ or ‘King Lear,’ none of which would have existed without a decent plot.

Theater can be elusive and poetic, but it doesn’t thrive when it doesn’t reach an audience

I have spent my whole life working in the theater, and most of the people I know have done the same. And we are pretty interesting people.

I have two sensational kids who I have raised with my husband, hoping and working every day to help them become healthy, happy, and decent human beings.

In America, the average playwright makes less than a receptionist in a non-profit theatre. We don’t have decent health insurance – or any health insurance at all.

I go to museums. I buy art, even. You should see my house; we don’t have any wall space left.

Does art have to have high foot traffic to get funded in a recession? A lot of people, I am sure, would say absolutely not. And those postmodern art-loving loners surely would argue that even if one person likes a piece of art, that would make a museum worthwhile

Not so long ago, my feminist education taught me to ask the question, ‘Is the gaze male?’ The answer, apparently, is yes, which is why so many movies and television shows are about men and not women.

Why on earth is the ‘New Yorker’ publishing puff pieces about pretty girls who go to parties? Does the ‘New Yorker’ ever run photos of cute boys just because they’re cute and they come from money and they go to lots of parties?

So in case there was any doubt, I am here to report that having a play on Broadway does not suck.

I actually have to defend realism in theatre because I think TV does it badly – so corrupted by layers of bureaucrats who want to leave examination or psychology.

There are so many people from many different classes and ways of life who converge in one space to make a musical

People kept saying, ‘You’ve made it!’ and I was like, ‘What have I been doing all this time?’ I’ve always felt successful.

I think new plays are vastly more surprising and challenging and inspiring; I hear from audiences all the time that they are delighted when they see plays about the world we live in now, at this moment

I sincerely believe that for the New York theatre to remain relevant, all our major producing institutions should be presenting new American plays

The ridiculous way that workplace politics are conducted completely gets in the way of excellence in America.

Why is being a female having an agenda any more than being a misogynist – which David Mamet most certainly is?

We have this powerful ideological basis to the country that I don’t think any other country in the world quite can brag about. It’s a very complicated nation, and it’s very fertile.

I find a lot of input from other people very stressful

Spielberg read the ‘Understudy’ and decided that was the voice he wanted to write ‘Smash.’ He wanted a story that had humanity and humor and high-stakes dreams.

It’s not my responsibility to write plays about the way the world should be

Art is great. At its best, it engages the intellect and challenges the spirit; it connects us across history and reminds us of our humanity

Watching people toss all caution to the wind, who are ready to put their lives on the line for a dream, is something that is accessible.

You have to respect who the character is. It has its own internal truth, and you can’t betray that. And if you don’t betray that, it will not betray you