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I am interested in people living in the margins of society, and I do have a mission to tell the stories of women of colour in particular. I feel we've been present throughout history, but our voices have been neglected.
Lynn Nottage
I love my people's history. I feel a huge responsibility to tell the stories of my past and my ancestors' past.
I always describe race as the final taboo in American theatre. There's a real reluctance to have that conversation in an open, honest way on the stage.
The essence of creativity is to look beyond where you can actually see. I don't want to dwell in same place too long.
There was no way I was going to write about Africa and not include the triumphant continuity of life that had also been part of my experience there. It's not just war and famine all the time.
By the sheer act of writing, we are trying to place value on the stories that we're invested in.
In the business of war, the role of women is really to maintain normalcy and ensure that there is cultural continuity.
There is an enduring feeling that women can write domestic dramas but don't have the muscularity or the vision to write state-of-the-nation narratives.
Even in Congo, where conflicts are happening, people have births, weddings, deaths, and celebrations.
I wrote 'Ruined' and 'Vera Stark' at the same time. That's just how my brain functions - when I'm dwelling someplace very heavy, I need a release.
The more you go to a theatre and the more you hear stories you aren't necessarily familiar with, the more open you become.
I teach at Columbia, and I'm always looking for books I can lose myself in during the 45 minutes I'm on the train.
I can't quite remember the exact moment when I became obsessed with writing a play about the seemingly endless war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but I knew that I wanted to somehow tell the stories of the Congolese women caught in the cross-fire.
Ultimately, we're incredibly resilient creatures. People really do get on with the business of living.
My hobby is raising my children.
There were not a lot of women in the theater department - it was really run by men, and so the message was that women can be onstage, but women can't really be backstage.
It's very easy, when we're reading those articles on the 20th page of 'The New York Times', to distance ourselves and say, 'It's someone else.'
The theatre should reflect America as it's lived in today. And that is a multicultural America.
It's very important for me to have dialogues across racial lines.
We use metaphors to express our own truths.
Women are standing up and leaning forward and asserting their power.
Silence is complicity. I believe that.
Saying, 'I'm going to create jobs' is great, but before you create jobs, something has to be offered to alleviate some of the suffering now.
The stage is the last bastion of segregation.
It is such a joy to join a legacy of amazing female playwrights who have managed to break through the glass ceiling and reinvigorate the Broadway stage by bringing a fresh and necessary perspective.
The presence of a bed changes the way people interact.
I don't think any of us could predict Trump. Trump is the stuff of nightmares. But in talking to people, I knew there was a tremendous level of disaffection and anger and sorrow. I know people felt misrepresented and voiceless.
I'm a schizophrenic writer.
People probably have different philosophies about this, but I think that when you're first shaping the play and trying to find a character, the initial actors that develop it end up imprinting on it - you hear their voices; you hear their rhythms. You can't help but to begin to write toward them during the rehearsal process.
In listening to the narratives of the Congolese, I came to terms with the extent to which their bodies had become battlefields.
I'm always hyperaware of the way in which working people are portrayed on the stage.
Once working people discover that, collectively, we have more power than we do as individual silos, then we become an incredibly powerful force. But I think that there are powers that be that are invested in us remaining divided along racial lines, along economic lines.
I've been asked a lot why didn't 'Ruined' go to Broadway. It was the most successful play that Manhattan Theatre Club has ever had in that particular space, and yet we couldn't find a home on Broadway.
I try to be led by my curiosity.
I think sometimes you need distance to reflect.
The great thing about 'Vera Stark' is that my research was watching movies, screwball comedies, so I could literally sit back and relax.
It remains an incredible struggle for women in theater, and, in particular, playwrights and directors, to get their work seen and to not only get seen, but to get it to Broadway.
We live in a global society, and I don't think we can talk about, quote unquote, 'American themes' anymore.
What I often do when I'm writing, if I can't find that story, I go out and I hunt for it.
I need a release from whatever I'm writing.
Growing up in New York City, I'd flirted with the idea of driving, but between the subway and the sidewalks, I'd never needed to learn.
The person whose work introduced me to the craft was Lorraine Hansberry. The person who taught me to love the craft was Tennessee Williams. The person who really taught me the power of the craft was August Wilson, and the person who taught me the political heft of the craft was Arthur Miller.
I am a Tony voter; it is an honor that I take seriously. Each season, I enter the process with a degree of enthusiasm and optimism, which dissipates as I slowly plow through show after show.
As a woman of color, slowly and with some coercing, the not-for-profit theaters around the country are beginning to recognize and embrace the power of our stories, but with regards to Broadway and other commercial venues, we remain very much marginalized and excluded from that larger creative conversation.
I remain committed to telling the stories of women of the African diaspora, particularly those stories that don't often find their way into the mainstream media.
Each play I write has its own unique origin story.
Plays are getting smaller and smaller, not because playwrights minds are shrinking but because of the economics.
If the Tony Awards want to remain relevant in the American theater conversation, then they need to embrace the true diversity of voices that populate the American theater.
The act of saying what you do helps shape you as an artist.
I would like there to be gender equity. I would like the Broadway season to reflect sort of the demographic of the country.
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