Terrence McNally Quotes

I've Had Wonderful Collaborators. They're Very Different, Just As Actors Are. Working On A Show With Nathan Lane Is Different From Working On A Show With Chita Rivera. It Keeps You On Your Toes Because It's Different Every Time.

In Those Days, You Had To Like One Or The Other. You Couldn't Like Sutherland And Callas.

Whenever You Think You're Writing What Other People Want To Hear From You, And That It'll Be Commercial, You're Doomed To Disaster. Writing Has To Be As Truthful And Specific As We Can Make It. The Minute We Think That We're Reaching More People And Pleasing Them, We Get General. And Audiences Sense That And Turn Away, Shun Us.

Young People Have Got To Start Their Own Theaters, Really. All Good Theater Is A Kind Of Mom-and-pop Operation. Start Your Own Theater.

Work With Good Directors. Without Them Your Play Is Doomed. At The Time Of My First Play, I Thought A Good Director Was Someone Who Liked My Play. I Was Rudely Awakened From That Fantasy When He Directed It As If He Loathed It. . . . Work With Good Actors. A Good Actor Hears The Way You (and No One Else) Write. A Good Actor Makes Rewrites Easy. A Good Actor Tells You Things About Your Play You Didn't Know.

I Like To Surprise Myself. I've Always Been Attracted To Projects Where I Don't Know How They're Going To Turn Out.

I'm Of The School 'write What You Know.' You Can Educate Yourself, But The Best Writing Usually Comes From The Heart.

There Are So Many Rules About Play Writing. I'd Have A Nervous Breakdown If I Followed Them.

Cheating Is Not The American Way. It Is Small, While We Are Large. It Is Cheap, While We Are Richly Endowed. It Is Destructive, While We Are Creative. It Is Doomed To Fail, While Our Gifts And Responsibilities Call Us To Achieve. It Sabotages Trust And Weakens The Bonds Of Spirit And Humanity, Without Which We Perish.

Technology Promises To Let Us Do Anything From Anywhere With Anyone. But It Also Drains Us As We Try To Do Everything Everywhere. In A Surprising Twist, Relentless Connection Leads To A New Solitude.

I May Think I Have Inalienable Rights To Be Alive And Happy But I Don't - Life Is A Blessing.

Write Plays That Matter. Raise The Stakes. Shout, Yell, Holler, But Make Yourself Heard. It's Time For Playwrights To Reclaim The Theatre. We Do That By Speaking From The Heart About The Things That Matter Most To Us. If A Play Isn't Worth Dying For, Maybe It Isn't Worth Writing.