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" If I hadn't told stories, I would've been a historian. "
George C. Wolfe
Been
Stories
Historian
Related Quotes:
" As a person of color, I was trained from very early on to see 'Leave It to Beaver,' 'Gilligan's Island,' or 'Hamlet' and look beyond the specifics of it - whether it be silly white people on an island or a family living in Nowheres or a Danish person - to leap past the specifics and find the human truths that have to do with me. "
George C. Wolfe
Past
People
Me
" I personally am a very big fan of 'Romeo + Juliet.' It had a visceral power to it that I thought was just exhilarating. It was a very arresting and very disturbing and deeply compelling version of the play. "
George C. Wolfe
Play
Thought
Just
" Commercial theater, in its agenda to appeal to everybody, is often at the expense of the unique vision of the artist. "
George C. Wolfe
Unique
Vision
Artist
" When 'Jelly's' went out on tour, no one really wanted it. It was undersold. And I knew if I gave 'Noise' to someone else, they would sell it as 'Stomp' with little dancing black boys. "
George C. Wolfe
Noise
Dancing
Black
" Confidence comes in going on personal journeys in a public arena and feeling as though you have a right to do that. You have to give yourself permission to discover what you need to discover and not worry about how pretty the journey is. If you're aware of the pretty, you're not going to dig into the mess. "
George C. Wolfe
Yourself
Journey
Confidence
" You've got to make the rehearsal room very safe. You can't bully people, because if you bully people, they're going to freeze and lock up. "
George C. Wolfe
Safe
Going
People
" Anytime you create art, you create a mess. I mean, 'Hamlet' is a mess! "
George C. Wolfe
Hamlet
Mess
Create
" When I was little, I remember rehearsing starving so that when I got to New York I would know how to do it. "
George C. Wolfe
Remember
Got
How
" When 'The Normal Heart' first appeared, the sense of urgency was so important. "
George C. Wolfe
Normal
Important
Sense
" I feel like I'm edgy and I'm funny and I got this bite, this outrageousness. "
George C. Wolfe
Feel
Bite
Edgy
" The best of any artist is in their art. "
George C. Wolfe
Any
Artist
Best
" 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. "
George C. Wolfe
Challenges
Living
Humanity
" One of the things I learned very early on was that if you cast the show correctly, and if you've created the right energy in the room, the solution is also in the room. The solution doesn't necessarily come from someone, but if everybody is working in a very steadfast and rigorous way, then everything you're looking for is in the room. "
George C. Wolfe
You
Early
Energy
" 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. "
George C. Wolfe
Community
Feel
Myself
" Theater, at the end of the day, is about ideas. It's about very large ideas. And if the play is beautifully written or smartly written and has incredible characters you follow on the journey, you take home these larger ideas. Whether it's 'Angels in America' or 'Lucky Guy' or 'Normal Heart,' you follow this moment-to-moment journey as an audience. "
George C. Wolfe
America
Journey
End
" Generally, the realm in which black playwrights have been allowed to achieve success has been social realism or musicals. "
George C. Wolfe
Social
Black
Achieve
" I love working with actors who will just go, 'Oh O.K., let's try it and see where it goes,' and 'Let's see what we can discover.' "
George C. Wolfe
See
Working
Will
" I was raised to believe that other people's suffering was my responsibility. "
George C. Wolfe
Responsibility
Suffering
Other
" The hardest thing about a musical is making sure everybody is working on the same damn show. That is the monster. "
George C. Wolfe
Working
Same
Show
" I think there's an aspect of my soul, of my personality, that's very suited to directing. I like being in the room with actors; I love creating a safe space and a chaotic space for the discovery to take place. I love creating a sense of community. "
George C. Wolfe
Personality
Community
Love
" 'You Gotta Have Heart' is one of the most ridiculously perfect, amazing musical comedy songs ever. "
George C. Wolfe
Heart
You
Comedy
" Our lives are connected in ways we can't imagine. They're connected even before we know they're connected. "
George C. Wolfe
Before
Connected
Even
" AIDS is a shared truth - it's not selective in its wrath. "
George C. Wolfe
Shared
Wrath
AIDS
" When I came to New York, I told everyone I was a writer/director, and they said, 'No.' There was a rule. You could be one or the other. They ordained me writer. But then I won the Obie for directing 'Spunk,' and the rules changed. "
George C. Wolfe
Said
New York
Rules
" Racists are deficient as human beings. "
George C. Wolfe
Human
Human Beings
Racists
" If you have the talent and passion and commitment, you shouldn't be locked out of the room. "
George C. Wolfe
Commitment
Passion
Room
" I'm convinced whenever something opens on Broadway, it's a miracle. It's a miracle that people survived. "
George C. Wolfe
Broadway
People
Something
" I viewed black musicals before 'Jelly' as a form of cultural strip mining. The exterior remained, but all the culture that signified where the people had come from and their connection to the earth was absent. "
George C. Wolfe
Mining
Black
Earth
" To me, 'Show Boat' was the first American musical, the first to have the real texture of this country. "
George C. Wolfe
American
Boat
Country
" The world doesn't see a lot of gray. The world sees black and white, and then it understands. "
George C. Wolfe
Black And White
White
Black