I don't write for children. I write, and somebody says, 'That's for children.'

I became a set designer for opera.

William Blake really is important, my cornerstone. Nobody ever told me before he did that childhood was such a damned serious business.

All I liked to do when I was a kid was draw.

My big concern is me and what do I do now until the time of my death. That is valid. That is useful. That is beautiful. That is creative.

Parents shouldn't assume children are made out of sugar candy and will break and collapse instantly. Kids don't. We do.

In another project I worked on just a few years ago, a staging of Peter and the Wolf, which I translated into Yiddish and sang on a stage in New York City. Thank God very few people knew I was doing it! But the kids in the audience loved it - even though it was all in Yiddish.