Nottage Quotes & Sayings

Each play I write has its own unique origin story. — Lynn Nottage

The assumption that what currently exists must necessarily exist is the acid that corrodes all visionary thinking. — Murray Bookchin

Just because it's a unique perspective doesn't mean it can't offer something universal. — Lynn Nottage

Dust in a cloud, blinding weather,
Drums that rattle and roar!
A mother and daughter stood together
Beside their cottage door.

'Mother, the heavens are bright like brass,
The dust is shaken high,
With labouring breath the soldiers pass,
Their lips are cracked and dry.'

'Mother, I'll throw them apples down,
I'll bring them pails of water.'
The mother turned with an angry frown
Holding back her daughter.

'But mother, see, they faint with thirst,
They march away to die,'
'Ah, sweet, had I but known at first
Their throats are always dry.'

'There is no water can supply them
In western streams that flow,
There is no fruit can satisfy them
On orchard trees that grow.'

'Once in my youth I gave, poor fool,
A soldier apples and water,
So may I die before you cool
Your father's drouth, my daughter. — Robert Graves

So for whatever reason those short lines just felt right to me, in my physical self. They were right for the movement of the poems. Some poems in the book have longer lines. — Matthew Zapruder

MAMA: My mother taught me that you
can follow behind everyone and walk in the dust, or you can walk ahead
through the unbroken thorny brush. You may get blood on your ankles, but
you arrive first and not covered in the residue of others. This land is fertile
and blessed in many regards, and the men ain't the only one's entitled to its
bounty. — Lynn Nottage

He who doesn't fear death dies only once. — Giovanni Falcone

Every writer has to figure out what works best - and often has to select and discard different tools before they find the one that fits. — Nora Roberts

Our fashion is for everyone and, throughout the years, we have had the possibility of working with the world's most beautiful and charming women and men. There is no person in particular who we would like to work with that we haven't already worked with. — Domenico Dolce

My interest in theatre and storytelling began in my mother's kitchen. It was a meeting place for my mother's large circle of friends. — Lynn Nottage

I've been asked a lot why didn't 'Ruined' go to Broadway. It was the most successful play that Manhattan Theatre Club has ever had in that particular space, and yet we couldn't find a home on Broadway. — Lynn Nottage

If you lead with the anger, it will turn off the audience. And what I want is the audience to engage with the material and to listen and then to ask questions. I think that 'Ruined' was very successful at doing that. — Lynn Nottage

Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements. — Seth Godin

Plays are getting smaller and smaller, not because playwrights minds are shrinking but because of the economics. — Lynn Nottage

I find my characters and stories in many varied places; sometimes they pop out of newspaper articles, obscure historical texts, lively dinner party conversations and some even crawl out of the dusty remote recesses of my imagination. — Lynn Nottage

I need a release from whatever I'm writing. — Lynn Nottage

A play that forces us to question our moral responsibility to the victims of human rights abuse. — Lynn Nottage

I feel it's my social responsibility to shine a light on areas that don't get seen. My personal feeling is that it's an artist's responsibility to be engaged with the culture. And when the culture is going through turmoil, I think an artist can't ignore that. I don't feel that every artist has to be politically engaged, but I can't imagine that you can be an active participant of this culture and not in some way reflect that in the work you are creating. — Lynn Nottage

Not only did we play the race card, we dealt it from the bottom of the deck. — Robert Shapiro

Like other women writers of my class, I am expected to tame my talent to suit the comfort of my family. — Kamala Suraiyya Das

I'm a schizophrenic writer. — Lynn Nottage

I wanted to tell the story of these women and the war in the Congo and I couldn't find anything about them in the newspapers or in the library, so I felt I had to get on a plane and go to Africa and find the story myself. I felt there was a complete absence in the media of their narrative. It's very different now, but when I went in 2004 that was definitely the case. — Lynn Nottage

Sirius looked out of the fire at Harry, a crease between his sunken eyes.
"You're less like your father than I thought," he said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. "The risk would've been what made it fun for James."
"Look - "
"Well, I'd better get going ... I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?"
There was a tiny pop, and the place where Sirius's head had been was flickering flame once more. — J.K. Rowling

I was repeatedly told that there isn't an African American woman who can open a show on Broadway. I said, 'Well, how do we know? How do we know if we don't do it?' I said, 'I think you're wrong.' — Lynn Nottage

African American women in particular have incredible buying power. Statistically, we go to the movies more than anyone. We have made Tyler Perry's career. His films open with $25 million almost consistently. — Lynn Nottage

So we all ran around in mad, mindless, meaningless circles, as if we were in a cotton-candy eating contest where the grand prize was getting kicked in the face. We were oblivious to everything around us that no truly sane person would ever tolerate.
And we needed someone else to tell us to stop it. — Edward M. Wolfe

I can't quite remember the exact moment when I became obsessed with writing a play about the seemingly endless war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but I knew that I wanted to somehow tell the stories of the Congolese women caught in the cross-fire. — Lynn Nottage

I was in the category of people who thought that his [Bernie Sanders ]campaign was worthy, even noble and it would push Hillary [Clinton] to the left. — Tom Hayden

I am interested in people living in the margins of society, and I do have a mission to tell the stories of women of colour in particular. I feel we've been present throughout history, but our voices have been neglected. — Lynn Nottage

Because I am an officer and a gentleman they have given me my notebooks, pen, ink and paper. So I write and wait. I am committed to no cause, I love no living person. The fact that I have no future except what you can count in hours doesn't seem to disturb me unduly. After all, the future whether here or there is equally unknown. So for the waiting days I have only the past to play about with. I can juggle with a series of possibly inaccurate memories, my own interpretation, for what is worth, of events. There is no place for speculation or hope, or even dreams. Strangely enough I think I like it like that. — Jennifer Johnston

In the business of war, the role of women is really to maintain normalcy and ensure that there is cultural continuity. — Lynn Nottage

There are so many remarkable playwrights working right now, that I see everything I can. Annie Baker is a genius, I'll see anything she writes. The same for Lynn Nottage, Cynthia Hopkins, and Lisa D'Amour. Anything they've got going on, I'll go see. — Lucy Alibar

I always thought of my mother as a warrior woman, and I became interested in pursuing stories of women who invent lives in order to survive. — Lynn Nottage