As a director, I never feel that I have the answers.

Opera is the ultimate art form. It has singing and music and drama and dance and emotion and story.

The musical theater is a glorious and distinctly American innovation in the history of theater.

The idea of making audiences feel like they matter, that the theatre matters, and that they're a partner in the event—that's what fuels me as a director . . . I believe it's actually radical to think about the audience.

Theatre and opera were always the twin kingdoms that I felt I had to conquer, because they were my parents' favorites.

As a director, I never feel that I have the answers.

I had to drop a boulder to wake people up about the A.R.T. We've done that, and now we have audiences again who want cutting-edge work, who want to be challenged, but who also won't be falling asleep at the theater.