Intermission
a creative coffee break from writing the play

Suzan Lori-Parks
Fort Knox, Kentucky
May 10, 1963

A play begins with characters. It never starts with an idea. I think some people say, “Oh, I have a great idea; I want to talk about the homeless problem.” And then they write a play about homelessness. But my plays never start with an idea about anything, and it is only way, way late in the game that I figure out the question: So what’s the play about? And not even then…I always start with characters, sometimes a word.

Interview with Suzan-Lori Parks
Callaloo, Vol. 19, No 2, Spring 1996, p.315