The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is.

Jazz in itself is not struggling. That is, the music itself is not struggling... It's the attitude that's in trouble. My plays insist that we should not forget or toss away our history.

I think that's the core of black aesthetics: the ability to improvise. That is what has enabled our [black people's] survival.

When I first started writing plays I couldn't write good dialogue because I didn't respect how black people talked. I thought that in order to make art out of their dialogue I had to change it, make it into something different. Once I learned to value and respect my characters, I could really hear them. I let them start talking.

Your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel.

All you need is the blues. To me, the blues is the book, it's the bible, it's everything.

Blacks have traditionally had to operate in a situation where whites have set themselves up as the custodians of the black experience.