Downstage Center - George C. Wolfe - January, 2011

American Theatre Wing: "Playwright/director Geroge C. Wolfe discusses the seven year development of John Guare's A Free Man of Color, from approaching Guare with the idea of merging Restoration comedies and life in New Orleans leading up to the Louisiana Purchase, to receiving a script that would have run some five hours, to the just-finished production at Lincoln Center Theater. He also recalls his earliest directing urges as a child in Frankfort KY; provides the details of the first play he ever wrote, Up for Grabs, while a student at Pomona College; recounts the 'horror' of his first professional productions, his musical Paradise! in both Cincinnati and New York; describes the sudden success of The Colored Museum and the subsequent development of Spunk, the latter being the first time he directed his own work; explains who he sees as his collaborators when he's both writing and directing; recounts his combative but ultimately fruitful work with Gregory Hines on Jelly's Last Jam; lays out the whirlwind of work that surrounded the Broadway production of Angels in America and his concurrent hiring as artistic director of New York's The Public Theater; acknowledges that his role as The Public's producer forced the artist in him to take a back seat; considers his ongoing artistic relationship with actor Jeffrey Wright; reveals the conceptual work that animated the household objects that were so integral to the story of Caroline, or Change; and answers the question of whether he will ever write another play.