The script specifies structure, not experience. Like a blueprint, it defines walls, doors, load-bearing elements — plot, characters, language, rhythm — but it does not contain the lived space. The performance is the building people walk through. (more)

Yes — and in theatre, this is less an aesthetic failure than a material one. In plays, the second act is never better than the first because theatre is an event, not a recording. (more)

Understanding enables ethical and accurate imagination. Especially when writing characters unlike yourself — different eras, classes, beliefs — you’re responsible for grasping their inner logic, not projecting yours onto them. (more)