At every talkback, reading or performance I’ve ever been to I get asked what my inspiration for a given play is. It’s always a challenge because who can describe what the genesis of a thought is… or dream for that matter. And in my case I often wonder if the two are interchangeable.

Unlike some dramatists, I don’t start with an idea or structural prompt or anything at all for that matter. I like to start with as clean a slate as I can so I’m open to the people who begin to visit me in my dream-like-writer-state. I try to be hyper-aware of what they say in those first few sentences and begin to suppose why they might say it.

From there I proceed up the path of realizations. I hope to have many such shudderings with each character. I hope to “guess wrong” and be surprised quite a few times as the lies all people tell are revealed to me.

Some say this makes me no more than a secretary, taking down the whims of my minions. But I think if you’re the arbiter of not only what gets revealed but also the order it’s revealed in… then you are both the CEO and the secretary… and I like that position.

Call me crazy. Call me strange. As long as you call me playwright, you’re okay by me.

I’ve attached a short monologue by way of an introduction. In the din of people shouting Barack Obama’s name, perhaps it will be heard in a different way.