Top 25 Katori Hall Quotes

I’ll never be August Wilson – but what I can be is more of myself.

I grew up playing with kids from Hurt Village, playing with kids from other housing projects, Lamar Terrace, because my grandmother lived in that particular area. So, I always wondered how I would have turned out if I would have lived in that particular given circumstance.

I think being an actor makes me a better writer and vice versa. I know the kinds of roles I would kill to play, and I try to create them for others.

I’m very opinionated, very intelligent and not afraid to show that.

Through school, I saw plenty of theatre my parents weren’t necessarily up on. They would prefer a football game to watching ‘The Nutcracker,’ and that’s fine. I enjoy both.

We expect our leaders to be godlike. But I feel that when people try to sanctify leadership, it puts it out of the realm of regular people. And that’s where the greatest leaders come from – from the people.

Theatre is an exclusive place that tends to be dominated by white men, or dying white men.

I never, ever read the comments below an article on the Web. People are mean. I’m a human being.

I feel a responsibility to continue creating complex roles for black women, especially young black women.

Unlike films, which can be easily disseminated worldwide via DVDs and the Internet, plays struggle to find an international audience.

Serendipity always rewards the prepared.

It is expensive to give plays subtitles, especially for a short run, so most new dramas rarely cross the transcontinental bridge.

I started writing because I got so frustrated that there weren’t enough plays that had roles for young black women in them.

Many theaters are tackling the multifaceted work of black writers – established and emerging. Now the next step is for them to bring in audiences of color and continue to go out to our community and create a continuous connection that extends beyond the one black show in the season.

I have so many different voices and stories to tell.

I’m very Southern in the way I walk in the world. I love to laugh. I love to eat. I love to hug people. But if somebody makes me mad, my neck may roll. I can be aggressive with a Southern twang.

Like most playwrights, I hate talkbacks with a passion that can burn a hole through hell.

I used to think people above me might get jealous because I wanted to do what they did. But no, people are much nicer than that.

Sometimes, unfortunately, hatred is more powerful than progress.

I always crave to see more stories about and by people of color, particularly new work by young black writers.

Cultivating relationships with people who‘ve achieved what you want to achieve makes the path fuller and more fun.

Playwrights are the most gregarious writers – to get our work done, we need actors, directors, set designers.

Most of the time, when I’m writing, I’m writing for myself. I’m thinking, ‘What will my character say at this time? What will come out of her mouth?’ I create individuals so real to me, I sometimes start talking to them. Then I let them loose on the page.

Become your dream, and not be told what you are supposed to do.

Follow your intuition, listening to your dreams, your inner voice to guide you.