The theater is a communal experience, and whatever the emotional connection between an audience member and the actors onstage, it ripples through the whole audience. Part of the fun of the play is being a part of that audience.

If the play works in an emotional and engaging way purely from what's on the page, then what's on the stage will be the icing on the cake. If the play didn't work as a play on its own terms, none of the magic, none of the special effects or theatricality of it all, would add up to anything.

Each audience seems to have a life of its own, which is why watching the show regularly is so exciting, because it's always a different experience.

The play has to work for the super fans, and not speak down to them, and yet it had to play to those people who maybe had never read a Harry Potter book or seen the films.

My career has sort of been characterized by taking advantage of the changes in the marketplace, sometimes by design, sometimes by accident.

At heart, I'm really interested in this marriage of theater, film and television and I think what happened in the UK and obviously is happening here is that there's a convergence of talent kind of moving between the different disciplines and I find that very exciting.

I have, over the years brought an enormous number of plays to television starting obviously with Nicholas Nickelby and then things like Angels In America or in Wit with Emma Thompson and Mike Nichols. So, yes, I do find that very interesting and I'm sure that down the road there will be plays that I'll want to do that way.

In this new digital landscape, this sort of international marketplace, it's come full circle, and I wanted to take advantage of my talent relations on both sides of the Atlantic.

One of the things that's different about London and the English market is that theater and film and television are all based in London. It's not quite the same as in the States where if the playwright here wants a successful TV or film career, they're whisked away by Hollywood.

My principal focus is finding great dramas.

The notion that the staging of the play Harry Potter should be raw magic and street theater rather than high-tech theater, was essential.

I live in New York, so I'm used to the audiences that cheer and clap through a play. It is unusual for London audiences.

I think that the marketplace has changed in many dramatic ways but actually in some sense it's remained the same because the challenge of creating quality programming is the same, and I've always thought that if you follow the great material everything else will fall in to place.