It's the Intermission
A Creative Coffee Break

Ketti Frings
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.
February 28, 1909

I was not too bruised by its lack of success. You can only learn from your mistakes.

Ketti Frings on the
cool reception of her play
Mr. Sycamore, 1942

Just say ‘Mark Twain.’ People who say ‘Samuel Clemens’ deplete me.

Mrs. Fitch to Mr. Fitch
in
Mr. and Mrs. Fitch
by
Douglas Carter Beane

Mary Chase
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
February 25, 1906

If Harvey happens to take a liking to people he expresses himself quite definitely. If he’s not particularly interested, he sits there like an empty chair or an empty space on the floor. Harvey takes his time making his mind up about people. Choosey, you see.

Elwood, p.28
Harvey
by Mary Chase

Edna St. Vincent Millay
Rockland, Maine, U.S.A.
February 22, 1892

Shall I forget, then,
When I am old, I ever was a child?
I tell you I shall think of you
Throughout my life, without such tenderness
As breaks the heart,—and I shall think of you
Whenever I am most happy, whenever I am
Most sad, whenever I see a beautiful thing.
You are a burning lamp to me, a flame
The wind cannot blow out, and I shall hold you
High in my hand against whatever darkness.

Bianca, p.38
The Lamp and the Bell
a play in verse (1921)
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Carson McCullers
Columbus, Georgia, U.S.A.
February 19, 1917

There are all the family around and I can’t seem to tell them. I wish I had written it down on the typewriter beforehand. I try to tell them and the words just—die.

Frankie, p.96
Member of the Wedding
By Carson McCullers

Beautiful….

Less than 4 minutes to give it a listen.

You won’t regret it.

Nancy Oliver
Syracuse, NY, U.S.A.
February 9, 1955

See…all I really want to do is read. All I’ve ever wanted to do is read. But nobody understands…Really. My mother practically strip-searched me tonight. I had to sneak this one in my underwear. Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?

Julie to Charisse, p.11
Social Life
by Nancy Oliver

Kathy Najimy
San Diego, CA, USA
February 6, 1957

… we thought we’ll write it and no one will like it but us, but then the only rule was that we have to really like it. We did it in very small little cabarets and clubs and theaters in San Diego. People seemed to really like it. We kept extending and extending. So then – I was working for the phone company at the time. For AT&T. I put in for a transfer to New York. It came through and I said to Mo, we’re going to New York.

Kathy Najimy
on writing The Kathy and Mo Show
Interview PopEntertainment.com, Feb 11, 2007.

Sarah Kane
Brentwood, Essex, U.K.
February 3, 1971
(Left us: Feb 20, 1999)

You can’t second-guess audiences and you can’t control how they will respond to any given theatrical experience. I wouldn’t want to try to create a reaction, but you have to know what you want to do to them. What I think about when writing is how I want it to affect me and the best way to achieve that.

Sarah Kane
Rage and Reason: Women Playwrights on Playwriting, Methuen Drama, 1997.