--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you're a playwright, unless you're…" description: "\"If you're a playwright, unless you're really lacking in get-up-and-go, you can always get your play up somewhere. You can't necessarily make a living d..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/tony-kushner-2204_audience_if-you-re-a-playwright-unless-you-re-rea_465397.jpg" --- # If you're a playwright, unless you're really lacking in… ![“If you're a playwright, unless you're really lacking in get-up-and-go, you can always get your play up somewhere. You can't necessarily make a living doing it, but theater is about meeting an audience. Plays are not easier to write necessarily, they take less time to write. If you get them up…” quote by Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/tony-kushner-2204_audience_if-you-re-a-playwright-unless-you-re-rea_465397.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/tony-kushner-2204_audience_if-you-re-a-playwright-unless-you-re-rea_465397.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/tony-kushner-2204_audience_if-you-re-a-playwright-unless-you-re-rea_465397.jpg) > “If you're a playwright, unless you're really lacking in get-up-and-go, you can always get your play up somewhere. You can't necessarily make a living doing it, but theater is about meeting an audience. Plays are not easier to write necessarily, they take less time to write. If you get them up, it's a much more rough-and-tumble kind of existence. I think it's, from my perspective, easier than novel writing.” [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote suggests that playwriting can be quicker and more immediate than novel writing, offering a faster path to production despite lower financial stability. **In simple terms:** Playwriting is faster but less stable than novels. Key Takeaway Consider theater for quicker creative fulfillment. Themes creativity production career tradeoffs Mood pragmatic reflective Type advice industry insight When to use this quote - producing a play - seeking funding - building a troupe - balancing artistic and financial goals Key Concepts theatre writing process audience engagement Questions to Reflect On - Do you value speed of creation over financial security? - How does audience interaction shape your work? A Different Perspective Financial returns may be lower and success depends heavily on audience reception. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actor/) [Audience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) [Doing Theater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-theater-251403/) [Easier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/easier/) [Easier Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/easier-novel-3611570/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Get up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/get-up/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Lacking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lacking/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Meetings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meetings/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Novel writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel-writing/) [Perspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perspective/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Playwright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/playwright/) [Playwright Unless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/playwright-unless-4033427/) [Rough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rough/) [Theater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theater/) [Theatre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theatre/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I think the path to becoming a writer has become more through the novel. 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You inflict things on people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/as-a-playwright-you-are-a-torturer-of-actors-and-of-the-audience-as/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [Being on a film set is like being in tech forever. In theater, when you finally finish rehearsing, you go onstage and you do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/being-on-a-film-set-is-like-being-in-tech-forever-in-theater-when-you/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [You have to have hope. It's irresponsible to give false hope, which I think a lot of playwrights are guilty of. But I also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/you-have-to-have-hope-it-s-irresponsible-to-give-false-hope-which-i/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [One of the things I love about my job as a playwright or as a screenwriter is that I get to do a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/one-of-the-things-i-love-about-my-job-as-a-playwright-or-as-a/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [I love doing theater. Despite the fact that out of theater, film, and TV, theater is the hardest thing to do. It's the least…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-morton/i-love-doing-theater-despite-the-fact-that-out-of-theater-film-and-tv/) [Joe Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-morton/) > [I think I made $55 a week, and it was bliss... I was doing theater. It was all I ever wanted to do. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-tambor/i-think-i-made-55-a-week-and-it-was-bliss-i-was-doing-theater-it-was/) [Jeffrey Tambor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-tambor/) ## More by Tony Kushner > [My whole life has conspired to bring me to this place, and I can’t despise my whole life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/my-whole-life-has-conspired-to-bring-me-to-this-place-and-i-can-t/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [The big influence on me was Robert Altman, who, especially in 'Nashville,' transformed my sense of dramatic structure and showed how you could handle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/the-big-influence-on-me-was-robert-altman-who-especially-in-nashville/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [“Fabulous. If you possess it, you don’t need to ask what it is. 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I actually think that people are never stuck, there’s no such thing as writers block, I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/i-never-really-feel-that-i-m-stuck-i-actually-think-that-people-are/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [The act of thinking and interpreting is so central to Judaism that it makes more sense that we've become people like Woody Allen -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/the-act-of-thinking-and-interpreting-is-so-central-to-judaism-that-it/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [Respect the delicate ecology of your delusions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/respect-the-delicate-ecology-of-your-delusions/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [The general consensus among historians, among the ones who can handle the fact that 'Lincoln' is, in fact, historical fiction, is that we demonstrate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/the-general-consensus-among-historians-among-the-ones-who-can-handle/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [“I've lived through such terrible times and there are people who live through much worse. But you see them living anyway. When they're more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/i-ve-lived-through-such-terrible-times-and-there-are-people-who-live/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [When really writing I'm not a good friend. Because writing disorganizes the social self, you become atomized. It scrambles you, sometimes to the point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/when-really-writing-i-m-not-a-good-friend-because-writing/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [My back went out and I gained 40 pounds while sweating over 'Perestroika.' It was incredibly hard, the hardest thing I had to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/my-back-went-out-and-i-gained-40-pounds-while-sweating-over/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [Film is like tech starts on the first day of filming and it never stops. There's never a moment when the audience comes in,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/film-is-like-tech-starts-on-the-first-day-of-filming-and-it-never/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) [Explore all 179 Tony Kushner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) ## More Actor quotes > [I actually think acting is a form of self-hypnosis. You have to be hyper, hyper aware of what's going on around you. You have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julianne-moore/i-actually-think-acting-is-a-form-of-self-hypnosis-you-have-to-be/) [Julianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julianne-moore/) > [When you step out and do a song in a musical, the easier thing to do is make it funny. But when those transitions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelli-o-hara/when-you-step-out-and-do-a-song-in-a-musical-the-easier-thing-to-do/) [Kelli O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelli-o-hara/) > [I once told someone I could act. 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