I think, with most writers, their neurosis is finishing things. I have a different neurosis. I’m terribly anxious when it’s not finished. Then I become really difficult to live with. – Theresa Rebeck
Sometimes I feel that my job on earth is to put Julie White through horrible things, watch her writhe and then recover. – Theresa Rebeck
Is the American theatre allowing itself to become irrelevant? The problem isn’t that playwrights aren’t being paid enough. It’s that theatres all over America are looking towards New York to tell them what new plays to do. – Theresa Rebeck
Honestly, the thing that I have found to be most useful over a long career, or maintaining a long career, is taking back the power at some point and self-producing. – Theresa Rebeck
So in case there was any doubt, I am here to report that having a play on Broadway does not suck. – Theresa Rebeck
Does art have to have high foot traffic to get funded in a recession? A lot of people, I am sure, would say absolutely not. And those postmodern art-loving loners surely would argue that even if one person likes a piece of art, that would make a museum worthwhile. – Theresa Rebeck
Why is it so hard for men to identify with women as fellow travelers on this good Earth? – Theresa Rebeck
The myth that theater isn’t for everybody is total nonsense. In the 18th and 19th centuries, everybody in America used to go to the theater all the time. The shows they went to see were big, crazy melodramas that had careening storylines and houses burning down and pretty girls in danger and comedy and death and destruction. – Theresa Rebeck
The economics of theater are painful. I still think that the theater community should be looking much more rigorously at how to let the playwright keep the money they make. – Theresa Rebeck
I would rather work in the theater than anywhere else, and it does seem to be a place where stories can and should be told purely. – Theresa Rebeck
I’m actually interested in poor behavior. I’m interested in what drives people to poor behavior. – Theresa Rebeck
A lot of times, I think people feel that new plays are suspect, and actually, I don’t know where that came from. I completely disagree with it! – Theresa Rebeck
Spielberg read the ‘Understudy’ and decided that was the voice he wanted to write ‘Smash.’ He wanted a story that had humanity and humor and high-stakes dreams. – Theresa Rebeck
I think it goes without saying that young would-be playwrights in developmental workshops should be so lucky as to write plays as good as ‘Waiting for Godot,’ ‘Uncle Vanya’ or ‘King Lear,’ none of which would have existed without a decent plot. – Theresa Rebeck
I think new plays are vastly more surprising and challenging and inspiring; I hear from audiences all the time that they are delighted when they see plays about the world we live in now, at this moment. – Theresa Rebeck
I think it’s straight men who are oblivious to goodness or badness to dates. That’s probably unfair. Maybe they just don’t complain as much. – Theresa Rebeck