Happy Birthday: Neil LaBute

Neil LaBute

Born: March 19, 1963 in Detroit, Michigan, USA

I don’t have a right way that I go about things. I’m not very good at working consistently… The actual planning out of something tends to go on in my head rather than me doing lines between things happening. I’m not good with a trail of Post-its to tell me what scene I need next. I like to finish a scene and then figure out what happens next and find my way to it. If it’s not coming, then I walk away from it. I don’t find great value in “I must write five pages everyday” because those five pages usually turn into place mats. There’s nothing worse than staring at a blank screen and trying to be funny or profound or any of those things. It comes when it does.

And I also don’t think that my work will change your life. I think that at its best, it will raise new questions, give you an alternative view of something and perhaps over time that might lead you to greater understanding about something. But in terms of changing someone’s opinion, that’s a tall order and I don’t see how, in an hour and a half or two hours, that’s likely to happen.

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