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" Before I start, I create a set list that I listen to while I'm writing. For 'Intimate Apparel,' I loaded Erik Satie, Scott Joplin, klezmer music, and the American jazz performer and composer Reginald Robinson. "

Lynn Nottage

Start

Writing

Music

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" The theatre should reflect America as it's lived in today. And that is a multicultural America. "

" There's never any ebb in human misery. "

" Here's the dilemma of the modern age: There used to be actions that workers could take, in the form of a strike. But now, that's being pre-empted by lockouts. They don't even have that leverage to protect their jobs. "

" I was repeatedly told that there isn't an African American woman who can open a show on Broadway. I said, 'Well, how do we know? How do we know if we don't do it?' I said, 'I think you're wrong.' "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" If you're looking at the people who head the institutions, there are very few African Americans or people of colour. I'm talking about the major theatres that position themselves as serving all audiences. What you find is, by and large, people who are shaping what we see, and the people who are the tastemakers are white. "

" 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. "

" I find my characters and stories in many varied places; sometimes they pop out of newspaper articles, obscure historical texts, lively dinner party conversations and some even crawl out of the dusty remote recesses of my imagination. "

" 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.' "

" 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. "

" Each play I write has its own unique origin story. "

" It's much easier to conjure characters strictly from your imagination than to have to think about whether you're representing people in a truthful way. "

" 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. "

" For me, the first thing is to tell a good story. "

Lynn Nottage

Story

Good Story

" 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. "

" The essence of creativity is to look beyond where you can actually see. I don't want to dwell in same place too long. "

" 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. "

" When I sat in rooms with middle-aged white men, I heard them speaking like young black men in America. They had been solidly middle class for the majority of their working careers, but now they were feeling angry, disaffected, and in some cases, they actually had tears in their eyes. "

" I'm a contemporary playwright in a postmodern world. "

" A lot of the factories that had been the bedrock of many small cities were being shut down, which led me to investigate what I'm calling the 'de-industrial revolution.' "

Lynn Nottage

Small

Revolution

" I try to be led by my curiosity. "

" I'm interested in people who are dwelling outside the mainstream. And very often, those people happen to be woman of color. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I am a storyteller by trade. "

Lynn Nottage

Storyteller

Trade

" I love my people's history. I feel a huge responsibility to tell the stories of my past and my ancestors' past. "

" 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. "

Lynn Nottage

People

Talking

" I think sometimes you need distance to reflect. "

" 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. "