You got to take the crookeds with the straights. That's what Papa used to say.

Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner.

I'm a black American playwright. I couldn't be anything else. I make my art out of black American culture; they're all cut out of the same cloth. That's who I am; that's who I write about.

I think the play offers (white Americans) a different way to look at black Americans For instance, in 'Fences' they see a garbageman, a person they don't really look at, although they see a garbageman every day. By looking at Troy's life, white people find out that the content of this black garbageman's life is affected by the same things- love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty. Recognizing that these things are as much part of his life as theirs can affect how they think about and deal with black people in their lives.

Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength.

You get to the point where your demons, which are terrifying, get smaller and smaller and you get bigger and bigger.

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