Intermission
a creative coffee break from writing the play

William Saroyan
Fresno, California
August 31, 1908

I think we’re all crazy. It came to me while I was on my way to Pier 27. All of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks. A thing like that never happened to me before. Here we are in this wonderful world, full of all the wonderful things-here we are-all of us, and look at us. Just look at us. We’re crazy. We’re nuts. We’ve got everything, but we always feel lousy and dissatisfied just the same.

Krupp, The Time of Your Life, p.93
by William Saroyan

Matt Crowley
Vicksburg, Mississippi
August 21, 1936

There’s something very poignant about the humanity. And very compelling. Something about the fraility of group of vulnerable human beings, struggling valiantly against their darker instincts.

Patrick, For Reasons that Remain Unclear,p.303,
by Matt Crowley

James Goldman
Chicago, Illinois
June 30, 1927

All the things I thought made life worth living, they don’t seem to matter much. I wanted a career once, but the Follies closed and nothing happened. And you know what? I was fine.

Sally, Follies, p.32
Book by James Goldman
(Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

Lillian Hellman
New Orleans, Louisiana
June 20, 1905

You know the way it happens? You understand something, and don’t know that you do, and forget about it. But one night years ago I woke up and knew what I had seen in you, and always seen.

Anna, Toys in the Attic, p. 64
by Lillian Hellman

Harvey Fierstein
June 6, 1952
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

There are easier things in this life than being a drag queen. But, I ain’t got no choice. Try as I may, I just can’t walk in flats.

Arnold, Torch Song Trilogy, p. 12
by Harvy Fierstein

R.C. Sheriff
June 6, 1866
Hampton Wick, Middlesex, United Kingdom

We are, generally, just waiting for something. When anything happens, it happens quickly. Then we just start waiting again.

Osborne, Journey’s End
by R.C. Sheriff

David Hare
June 5, 1947
St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, United Kingdom

The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe.

Mehta, A Map of the World, p. 65
By David Hare

Lorraine Hansberry
May 19, 1930
Chicago, Ilinois

All I can say is I write because I have to and what I have to. You don’t know anything about it. Whatever you think of it, Sidney, I write. I squeeze out my own juices and offer them up. I may be afraid, but I write.

David, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, p. 243
By Lorrane Hansberry

Beth Henley
May 8, 1952
Jackson, Mississippi

And someone else
unknown to us.

The question: what is impossible? The answer is, a formidable lot. To dance from here to the stars; to eat a tribe of bees; to scream down a forest; to remember when you were born; to know when you will die; to stop breathing and live. Many things are impossible. Endless things are impossible. Our life together is not quite that.

Reverend, Impossible Marriage, p.42
by Beth Henley

Emmanuel Robles
Oran, Algeria
May 4, 1914

Jeroom Verten
The Netherlands
May 4, 1909

And someone else
unknown to us.

Aimer, c’est justifier cette vie que nous perdrons tÙt ou tard, immanquablement.

Emmanuel Robles, from a 1964 interview

William Inge
May 3, 1913
Independence, Kansas

And someone else
unknown to us.

I always worry that maybe people aren’t going to like me, when I go to a party. Isn’t that crazy? Do you ever get kind of a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you dread things? Gee, I wouldn’t want to miss a party for anything. But every time I go to one, I have to reason with myself to keep from feeling that the whole world’s against me.

Sammy, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, p.48
by William Inge

August Wilson
April 27, 1945
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

And someone else
unknown to us.

That’s all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner.

Troy, Fences, p.16
by August Wilson