George C. Wolfe

There is a strange kind of parental pride when 'Topdog' ends up on Broadway, or 'Elaine Stritch.'

— George C. Wolfe

If you love theatre, do theatre wherever you can, because theatre is theatre, and you can experience it anywhere.

— George C. Wolfe

Commercial theater, in its agenda to appeal to everybody, is often at the expense of the unique vision of the artist.

— George C. Wolfe

“King Kong would have made it to the top if only he had taken the elevator.”

— George C. Wolfe

Generally, the realm in which black playwrights have been allowed to achieve success has been social realism or musicals.

— George C. Wolfe

Our lives are connected in ways we can't imagine. They're connected even before we know they're connected.

— George C. Wolfe

The world doesn't see a lot of gray. The world sees black and white, and then it understands.

— George C. Wolfe

Certain things come to me; I just become intrigued by them and want to live inside them.

— George C. Wolfe

I don't go, like, 'Hmm, I'm now going to create something for the black community.' I just feel this compelling urge. I…

— George C. Wolfe

Every single wave, when I was overwhelmed and poor and struggling in New York, there were these extraordinary people in New York…

— George C. Wolfe

Growing up in the South, I was raised to be a Negro boy. I was acutely aware how other people perceived me,…

— George C. Wolfe

A music serves truth up to you in a really interesting way that allows you to luxuriate in its beauty and, at…

— George C. Wolfe

The worst thing when you're working is to say, 'I have a question,' and the other person goes, 'No! This is what…

— George C. Wolfe

I personally am a very big fan of 'Romeo + Juliet.' It had a visceral power to it that I thought was…

— George C. Wolfe

There is a real affection for these human beings on these stage that O'Neill really had. Out of that affection comes a…

— George C. Wolfe

My absolutely favorite time of working on a project is the time I spend not knowing what it is. Because the longer…

— George C. Wolfe

Every play is rhythmic control. If you want an audience to go on a journey, it's rhythmic control. You're crafting when they…

— George C. Wolfe

One of the things I learned very early on was that if you cast the show correctly, and if you've created the…

— George C. Wolfe

A friend of mine said that when Barack Obama was running for president, there was a whole generation of white kids who…

— George C. Wolfe

Theater, at the end of the day, is about ideas. It's about very large ideas. And if the play is beautifully written…

— George C. Wolfe

In the early '90s or so, I drove my father to Providence, Ky., his hometown, and he was pointing out, 'That's where…

— George C. Wolfe

I came to New York to write and direct, and when I got here, a lot of my rage came out.

— George C. Wolfe

I'm interested in exploring how an individual maintains a sense of power in a world that tends to make individuals feel powerless.

— George C. Wolfe

Musicals spring forth from minstrelsy, vaudeville, melodramas; it was all these things combined to create the form.

— George C. Wolfe

I'm the most democratic fascist you'll ever meet. I listen to everybody, and then I make a decision.

— George C. Wolfe

A lot of '20s musicals were a hodgepodge of melodrama, mixed with operetta and romance, and then some sense of modernism and…

— George C. Wolfe

Certain events make people come out of their little boxes and become part of the whole.

— George C. Wolfe

I pride myself on being available to as many people's stories as I possibly can.

— George C. Wolfe

I love working with actors who will just go, 'Oh O.K., let's try it and see where it goes,' and 'Let's see…

— George C. Wolfe

I absolutely love working on musicals, but anytime I finish a project, I want to move on to something completely different.

— George C. Wolfe

On different projects, different pieces of you will show up. Sometimes it's surprising which piece shows up.

— George C. Wolfe

The hardest thing about a musical is making sure everybody is working on the same damn show. That is the monster.

— George C. Wolfe

If you have the talent and passion and commitment, you shouldn't be locked out of the room.

— George C. Wolfe

Theater should address the stories of its communities, or I don't know why it's here.

— George C. Wolfe

You've got to make the rehearsal room very safe. You can't bully people, because if you bully people, they're going to freeze…

— George C. Wolfe

With actors, I have very close, intense working relationships with actors in theater.

— George C. Wolfe

I think I am the first person of color to direct a major white play on Broadway. In 1993? That's astounding to…

— George C. Wolfe

In Los Angeles, wealth and poverty are separated by the freeways. In New York, they're next to each other.

— George C. Wolfe

I've always tried to do shows in a filmic way. I like it when forms smack up against each other.

— George C. Wolfe

'You Gotta Have Heart' is one of the most ridiculously perfect, amazing musical comedy songs ever.

— George C. Wolfe