Playwright Quotes

[Series with political content tend to age badly, and Cowen and Lipman know a thing or two about dated television -- the men, who began their work and home lives together in 1971 at a playwrights' conference, wrote An Early Frost, the first TV movie about AIDS, which aired in 1985.] You never know if something's going to hold up or fall apart in 20 years... It will mark a certain point in time. I hope as time goes on it will be seen as accurate. - Ron Cowen

[On the other hand, Lions says, big names can be a boon to playwrights as well as producers. Broadway] has lost a lot of talented writers to Hollywood... to take a chance on theater. That's how it's done in London. In an ideal world, young writers could move back and forth between New York and Los Angeles. - Julia Roberts

[McNally's inspiration for the play came from the Manhattan Theatre Club who asked the playwright for a new work to mark the re-opening of the Biltmore Theatre, which had been derelict for 16 years.] It was so terrible a place, ... that people shuddered as they passed it. It's a miracle that it was left standing. - Terrence McNally

[Many children follow their parents into the theatre. Hilary Bell is a playwright, while Lucy is an actor. Sacha Horler (daughter of Ken and Lillian Horler, co-founders of the Nimrod), Felix Williamson (son of David), Tamsin Carroll (daughter of Peter), Jason Donovan (son of Terence) and Robyn Nevin's daughter, Emily Dawe, have all gone onto the stage and screen. So it's not really surprising that Miranda did the same. What child would not be beguiled by a world of make-believe?] There's something about it, the whole life of it, that you really enjoy... I just used to find it so exciting. - Miranda Otto

(Playwrights) now are writing for sitcoms because they get a lot more money, and the quality doesn't have to be that good... But, boy, some of these older pieces like (those by) (George S.) Kaufman and (Moss) Hart slay me with how well they're written and constructed. - Douglas Stark