There's A Way In Which 'the Illusion'

One Has To Have A Complicated Kind Of Optimism. You Can't Refuse To Look At How Horrible Things Are.

A Handful Of Works In History Have Had A Direct Impact On Social Policy: One Or Two Works Of Dickens, Some Of Zola, 'uncle Tom's Cabin' And, In Modern Drama, Larry Kramer's 'the Normal Heart.'

Trying Every Day To Tell The Truth Is Hard. There Are Harder Things, Of Course - Arguably, Living With Lies And Meaninglessness, Living In Despair Is Harder, But It's Hardship Disguised As Luxury And Easier Perhaps To Grow Accustomed To, Since Truth Is Usually The Enemy Of Custom. There Are Harder Things Than Writing, Being President Obama, For Instance, And Having To Deal With House Republicans, Or Trying To Fix The Leak At The Fukushima Reactor, These Are Harder, But Writing Is Hard.

As A Playwright, You Are A Torturer Of Actors And Of The Audience As Well. You Inflict Things On People.

The Way You Give Love Is The Most Profoundly Human Part Of You. When People Say It's Ugly Or A Perversion Or An Abomination, They're Attacking The Center Of Your Being.