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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Lynn Nottage

End

Think

You

" In senior year at college, Paula Vogel was my playwriting teacher; she is the first person to introduce me to the notion that a woman could actually forge a career in the theatre. Up until then, the possibility seemed remote and inaccessible, as I had very few role models who directly touched my life. "

" In many ways, I consider those to be my formative years, because when you're in school, you have a distant relationship to the world in that most of what you're learning is from books and lectures. But at Amnesty, I came face to face with realities in a very direct and harsh way. "

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

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

" African American women in particular have incredible buying power. Statistically, we go to the movies more than anyone. We have made Tyler Perry's career. His films open with $25 million almost consistently. "

" For me, playwriting is sharing my experiences, telling my stories. "

Lynn Nottage

Experiences

Sharing

" Women are standing up and leaning forward and asserting their power. "

Lynn Nottage

Power

Standing

" By the sheer act of writing, we are trying to place value on the stories that we're invested in. "

" My hobby is raising my children. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" We live in a global society, and I don't think we can talk about, quote unquote, 'American themes' anymore. "

" 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.' "

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

" Silence is complicity. I believe that. "

" My parents are avid consumers of art, collectors of African American paintings, and have always gone to the theater. My mother has always been an activist, too. As long as I can remember, we were marching in lines. "

" I am a storyteller by trade. "

Lynn Nottage

Storyteller

Trade

" The people sometimes who are closest to us are the ones who bear the brunt of our frustration. "

Lynn Nottage

Bear

Sometimes

" The presence of a bed changes the way people interact. "

" My grandfather was a Pullman porter, and my father put his way through college by cleaning floors at night in the libraries. I understand that working people are in some way the bedrock of my existence and the existence of many people here. "

" I like to go into a space, listen, absorb, and then interpret. "

Lynn Nottage

Then

Listen

" The great thing about 'Vera Stark' is that my research was watching movies, screwball comedies, so I could literally sit back and relax. "

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

" I would like there to be gender equity. I would like the Broadway season to reflect sort of the demographic of the country. "

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

" 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. "