When you begin a play, you're going to have to spend a lot of time with those characters, so those characters are going to have to be rich enough that you want to take a very long journey with them. That's how I begin thinking about what I want to write about and who I want to write about.

It's much easier to conjure characters strictly from your imagination than to have to think about whether you're representing people in a truthful way.

African American women in particular have incredible buying power. Statistically, we go to the movies more than anyone. We have made Tyler Perrys career. His films open with $25 million almost consistently.

When you begin a play, you're going to have to spend a lot of time with those characters, so those characters are going to have to be rich enough that you want to take a very long journey with them. That's how I begin thinking about what I want to write about and who I want to write about.

Just because it’s a unique perspective doesn’t mean it can’t offer something universal.

I need a release from whatever I'm writing.

Each play I write has its own unique origin story.