“I was talking to so many teenagers for so long that I started to feel ...” — Stephen Karam Quote

I was talking to so many teenagers for so long that I started to feel like, 'I have my own story I want to tell, and I need to do it soon.' So I started to store away pieces that eventually became 'Speech & Debate.' I felt this burning need to write it while I still had not only all of the ideas but the passion to do it.

I think being gay has resulted in gay characters standing front and center in all of my work.

'The Cherry Orchard' is a masterpiece, and there can never be too many adaptations.

I'm drawn to writers with skill sets I don't have.

I definitely prefer to write under my own volition and see what happens.

In your 40s, you kind of know how things are likely to go, and you're better at saying, 'You know what? That just doesn't suit me...' I remember thinking in my 30s, 'I should go to Burning Man. I could be a Burning Man person.' And in my 40s, I'm like, 'You know what? I'm never going to go to Burning Man.'

My effort in the whole thing was the basic determination, the burning desire in me to prove to this world that a physically handicapped girl is in no way inferior.

I can't tell you where a poem comes from, what it is, or what it is for: nor can any other man. The reason I can't tell you is that the purpose of a poem is to go past telling, to be recognised by burning.

The thing for me is I never had this burning desire to do a solo record my whole life.