I call the language of political figures, pundits and administrators "the haute couture of language."

Many people are afraid to talk about race because it's so emotionally loaded. We don't have the vocabulary to talk about it. Every day, our vocabulary seems more and more inadequate.

If I do three interviews in a day, I can be exhausted, because the process of hearing everyone requires that I empty out myself. While I'm listening, my own judgments and prejudices certainly come up. But I know I won't get anything unless I get those things out of the way.

I happen to be a hopeaholic. I tend to look at problems as an opportunity to do some work.

I see myself as not a typical theater person, but a person who uses the theater as a place to meet people and explore ideas.

Hope is when you look out the window and you go, 'It doesn't look good at all, but I'm going to go beyond what I see to give people visions of what could be.'

I am lucky: I have fantastic doctors and a fantastic dentist.