I Didn't Go Out Of My Way

I've Come To Feel That If I Can't Make Something Happen In Under An Hour And A Half, It's Not Going To Happen In A Compelling Way In A Three-hour Play.

The Fantastic Thing About The Theatre Is That It Can Make Something Be Seen That's Invisible, And That's Where My Interest In Theatre Is- That You Can Be Watching This Thing Happening With Actors And Costumes And Light And Set And Language, And Even Plot, And Something Emerges From Beyond That, And That's The Image Part That I'm Looking For, That Sort Of Added Dimension.

When I First Started, I Didn't Really Know How To Structure A Play. I Could Write Dialogue, But I Just Sort Of Failed Beyond That, And Kind Of Went Wherever I Wanted To Go.

In Many Of My Plays, There Was A Kind Of Autobiographical Character In The Form Of A Son Or Young Man. The Purpose Of It, Of Course, Was To Write About Myself. That Character Was Always The Least Fully Realized. Eighteen Years Later, You Realize, That's What He Was About.

My First Job Was With The Burns Detective Agency. They Sent Me Over To The East River To Guard Coal Barges During These God-awful Hours Like Three To Six In The Morning. It Wasn't A Very Difficult Job -- All I Had To Do Was Make A Round Every Fifteen Minutes -- But It Turned Out To Be A Great Environment For Writing. I Was Completely Alone In A Little Outhouse With An Electric Heater And A Little Desk.