The only rule of a musical is that it must maintain its buoyancy.
A lot of directors tend to manipulate actors' vulnerability to get what they want, and that can work.
I'm interested in exploring how an individual maintains a sense of power in a world that tends to make individuals feel powerless.
Generally, the realm in which black playwrights have been allowed to achieve success has been social realism or musicals.
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.
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.
When 'The Normal Heart' first appeared, the sense of urgency was so important.
I think we all have a primal desire to know as much as we can to find out about where we come from.
Doing any kind of culture in America in which you are not trying to affirm a European aesthetic is war.
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.
I'm convinced whenever something opens on Broadway, it's a miracle. It's a miracle that people survived.
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'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.
It's easier to be cynical and edgy and tough rather than overly emotional.
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 feel like I'm edgy and I'm funny and I got this bite, this outrageousness.
I'm the most democratic fascist you'll ever meet. I listen to everybody, and then I make a decision.
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!
I want to create a theater that looks, feels, and smells like America.
Theater should address the stories of its communities, or I don't know why it's here.
