One of the tricks to writing great plays is to get people in a room together and not let them leave. You want the tension to escalate. Keeping them there is the hardest part, so you have to take away any excuse for them to leave.

You have to escape to survive, as you must survive to escape.

I think because my brother was an actor and I just saw how he struggled through, I guess I'm sensitive to it.

I find that more and more I'm trying to entertain myself when I'm working, because I know the work's going to go to a horrible place.

I don't mind him not talking so much, because you can hear his voice in your heart; the same way you can hear a song in your head even if there isn't a radio playing; the same way you can hear those blackbirds flying when they're not in the sky

In Chekhov, when people leave, a carriage is taking them away forever. The stakes are so high just for someone to make a simple exit. And now we have all this access to public transportation, automobiles and jets and the Internet; we're so easily distracted, but the world is still designed to destroy you. It just happens quicker and faster now.

The rooms I tend to be in are pretty democratic and the best idea wins.