Quote

One of the tricks to writing great plays is to get people in a room together and not let them leave. You want the tension to escalate. Keeping them there is the hardest part, so you have to take away any excuse for them to leave.

Adam Rapp

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Adam Rapp
Age: 56
Born: 1968
Born: June 15
Film Director
Novelist
Joliet
Illinois
Writing
Rooms
Escalate
People
Leave
Tension
Away
Tricks
Part
Plays
Together
Keeping
Play
Excuse
Take
Hardest
Great
Room

More quotes by Adam Rapp

Image
When I'm directing, I'm pretty much not writing, but when I'm not directing I am writing a lot.
Adam Rapp
Image
You can always count on the New York Times to cut your legs off.
Adam Rapp
Image
It's strange, people have asked me what my schedule is and what is my process like, and I can't even answer it.
Adam Rapp
Image
I've never really felt good at the parties, but I have enough friends now that I feel social, I used to feel very antisocial, but I think the theater helps.
Adam Rapp
Image
My work is always more emotional than I am. My characters say things to each other that I get accused of not being able to say to my girlfriend.
Adam Rapp
Image
My life has been in shambles, like my personal relationships, my laundry, paying bills now I have someone who pays my bills and it's always been a challenge because it overwhelms me.
Adam Rapp
Image
I would hope that the staffs at juvenile detention centers and reform schools are carefully chosen so that there is a community of support and hope.
Adam Rapp
Image
I think because my brother was an actor and I just saw how he struggled through, I guess I'm sensitive to it.
Adam Rapp
Image
You have to escape to survive, as you must survive to escape.
Adam Rapp
Image
I had a sort of bad experiences as a playwright early on, when directors were putting in huge concepts that I didn't intend, or they were stylizing something that was compromising the play, so I started to think like, well if I'm going to fight against this, I should learn how to direct.
Adam Rapp
Image
When I am directing, it is much, much, much, much, much different. I'm a much more practical person in the world, I show up on time, I am very rigorous about scheduling, and I am very focused. But when I'm writing I am just a big, irresponsible mess and I'm just impossible to get in touch with, and I don't spend time with friends.
Adam Rapp
Image
I think I'm a little more daunted by when the machinery of the play is really huge.
Adam Rapp
Image
Man, that's the only kind of book I like – one that's so real you want to find out everything there is to know about the person who wrote it, like how tall he is and what kind of music he likes and whether or not he really went through all the stuff he was writing about.
Adam Rapp
Image
A typical day for me is I'm writing when I'm not directing.
Adam Rapp
Image
I imagine a soul is a little perfect crystal egg floating in your chest. Somewhere deeper than where they put your heart. Somewhere so deep inside that the doctors can't find it with all their machines and microcameras.
Adam Rapp
Image
When I kicked in the first TV – a nineteen-inch Magnavox with wicker speaker panels – it felt like the most perfect thing I had done in a long time. And there's nothing like the feeling of perfection that will inspire repeated behavior.
Adam Rapp
Image
I feel that I'd rather know an actors' work, or have an instinct about them and sit down and have coffee with them, or I'll see them in something and I'll see if I can get along with them in some way, shape, or form.
Adam Rapp
Image
I think, for me, when I direct my own work it's just an extension of the authorship.
Adam Rapp
Image
I dont see a lot of movies that portray the East Village as well as I think they can.
Adam Rapp
Image
Whenever I've been in rehearsals, it's really fun, there's always laughing.
Adam Rapp