00:00When it comes to what's happening in the world today, how do you feel like your work represents what's happening
00:07today?
00:08Yeah, I mean, I think I've always been interested in writing stories about kind of quiet American lives, lives that
00:15aren't glamorous.
00:16You know, I grew up in a small town in Idaho, and that's where all my plays live.
00:21And I'm interested in telling these stories about people who don't normally show up on our stages and screens.
00:26And hopefully people see that kind of specific loneliness reflected back to them and validated.
00:33Yeah, the loneliness, you know, that's something I think, you know, you feel like people are talking to their chatbots
00:38a lot.
00:39It's a real epidemic in America right now.
00:41Where do you think it stems from when you've done your research for your work?
00:44Where does this loneliness stem from?
00:46I mean, I think it comes from, you know, our increased screen time, you know, the fact that we communicate
00:52through devices.
00:52I mean, all of the obvious things, we communicate through devices much more often than we now communicate face-to
00:57-face.
00:59And I think that's why theater, I think, is getting more and more important, because people are craving that live
01:03experience.
01:04People are craving communal storytelling.
01:07And, you know, the irony of, like, me writing plays, you know, about desperately isolated people,
01:12but performing them for hundreds of people, that the irony is not lost on me.
01:18And the Tonys, they're airing on CBS.
01:20I feel like 60 Minutes was one of those programs that would do exactly what you're talking about,
01:24shining a light on stories that are not really represented in other forms of media.
01:28When we're here tonight, and CBS is a great institution, how do you feel about what's happening over there?
01:33I feel very conflicted about it.
01:36I worry about all media at the moment.
01:41And independent journalism is so important in this country, and it's becoming really scarce in ways that are deeply frightening.
01:49And so, I don't know.
01:51I don't know the answer to that.
01:53It's just very unsettling.
01:54Who are the leaders in our industry that give you faith about a brighter future?
02:00Oh, boy.
02:01I mean, there's so many people.
02:02I think over the years, Tony Kushner has become a real personal friend and mentor to me.
02:07And I just find whenever he opens his mouth, even when he's talking about very difficult truths,
02:14he gives me faith because he's like one of the great minds of the American theater
02:19and understands America in a way that's pretty shattering.
02:25Last question for you.
02:27In the future, what's one culture group, unrepresented group of people that you would love to see represented on Broadway
02:34in the future that might not be there today?
02:36Boy, that's a really good question.
02:38I mean, I think, you know, something that really comes to mind is I feel like we don't see a
02:42lot of Native stories, especially on Broadway.
02:46But there are so many great indigenous writers out there that are writing incredible plays.
02:53So I would really hope that the industry looks to that community in the future and continues to look to
02:58them.
02:58Are you a crime and a season wyk今回?
02:58And there's a lot of people that's not lo 32 years ago, and there have about this history in the
02:58US right now,
02:58I know that you happen with this scene.
