Home / Quotes / Quote by Lanford Wilson

Quote by Lanford Wilson

“At best, the relationship between drama critic and playwright is a pretty twiggy affair. When I'm asked whom I write for, after the obligatory, I write only for myself, I realize that I have an imaginary circle of peers - writers and respected or savvy theatre folk, some dramatic writers and some not, some living, some long gone. . . . Often a writer is aware as he works that a certain critic is going to hate this one. . . . You don't let what a critic might say worry you or alter your work; it might even add a spark to the gleeful process of creation.”

Quote by Lanford Wilson

Author

Lanford Wilson, an American playwright, was born on April 13, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois, and passed away on March 24, 2011. Known for his profound social insight and delicate portrayal of human nature, Wilson's works have won numerous Tony Awards and Pulitzer Prizes. more

You May Also Like

“I thought if I can do something more playful and light like my play BEYOND THERAPY, it might be a money maker. I think one of the reasons BEYOND THERAPY has legs - it's been very successful for me around the country - is because it's a friendly play, rather sunny.”

Ifs Thinking I Can Country Reason Play Light Might Can Do Successful Legs Crafts Therapy Friendly Makers Sunny Can Do Something Money Maker

Author:Christopher Durang

“I'm back in fashion again for a while now. But I imagine that three or four years from now I'll be out again. And in another fifteen years I'll be back. If you try to write to stay in fashion, if you try to write to be the critics' darling, you become an employee.”

Ifs Writing Trying Years Three Four Imagine Fashion Critics Crafts Employee Four Years Imagine That Fifteen Darling Fifteen Years I'm Back

Author:Edward Albee

“And how deeply do I let business considerations affect [screenwriting] choices that might otherwise be more or less esthetic? . . . Do I choose the upbeat rather than the downer ending because I know it will score better at the preview? Can the idea be sold in a single sentence? Can it compete with space aliens and tornadoes and missions impossible?”

“The fear of a work becoming dated is one of the most effective tools for keeping people from writing political work.”

People Writing Political Becoming Tools Crafts

Author:Tony Kushner

“I am not a historian. I happen to think that the content of my mother's life - her myths, her superstitions, her prayers, the contents of her pantry, the smell of her kitchen, the song that escaped from her sometimes parched lips, her thoughtful repose and pregnant laughter - are all worthy of art.”

Thinking Art Sometimes Happens Mother Song Prayer Laughter Lips Worthy Smell Myth Crafts Kitchen Thoughtful Historian Superstitions Pregnant Repose Pantry

Book:Seven Guitars

Source: Seven Guitars

“If this were a [Hollywood] studio film, I wouldn't have pushed my father into a table, I would have beat him up. My father wouldn't have kissed my girlfriend; he would have raped her.”

Ifs Film Father Beats Hollywood Tables Studios Crafts Girlfriend My Girlfriend Hollywood Studios

Author:Noah Wyle

“What was once a cottage industry dedicated to the discovery and development of new voices and works has become instead the raison d'etre for many a playwright's existence . . .. And since readings have become playwrights' main source of exposure, the nature of playwriting has changed to fit readings' needs. Investigation into what is eminently theatrical has been substituted - more and more these days - by what can simply come across and read well.”

“I know there are writers who get up every morning and sit by their typewriter or word processor or pad of paper and wait to write. I don't function that way. I go through a long period of gestation before I'm even ready to write.”

Knows Way Writing Long Waiting Morning Ready Periods Paper Function Get Up Crafts Every Morning Typewriters Pads Processors Gestation Gestation Period

Author:Wole Soyinka

“[Nixon] reduced the meaning of his life to nothing but power. In the film, we gave this sad figure consciousness of what he was. We weren't right to do that - I don't think he did have that consciousness. But we did it for movie reasons - to create empathy.”

Thinking Reason Film Consciousness Figures Empathy Crafts

Author:Oliver Stone

“I thought if I was going to live a life in this land I was accidentally born on, I must people it; I must have a history. . .. I'm looking for these people inside me, wherever they may be; that is my form of research.”

People Ifs May Form Born Land Research Crafts

Author:Sebastian Barry