I think plays at their best explore, distill and reflect the complexity of the human experience. Plays by writers like Oscar Wilde and Moliere can be great fun and very entertaining, but I am most drawn to those which are intellectually challenging: “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and “The Crucible,” to name just two. I have loved plays as different in style as Annie Baker’s “Circle Mirror Transformation” and Antoinette Nwandu’s “Pass Over.”

I am fascinated by people and the stories they inspire me to write. Human beings are wonderfully inconsistent: generous, loving, attentive and good, as well as selfish, indifferent and evil. They quarrel and betray one another; they repent and find forgiveness—or they don’t. I write plays about people in conflict, because it is through conflict that we come to understand ourselves and our differences. It is these conflicts, whether against external or internal forces, which make drama so compelling.

When I write, the characters seem to come alive as the play unfolds; I visualize every gesture, every movement, as though I am watching it on stage. My goal is to write plays that will invite audiences to enter the world of the play with curiosity, that will entertain but will also challenge, and which will linger long after the curtain has dropped.