Katori Hall Quotes

#1. I can only speak for myself, but when I was growing up in Memphis - and having the Martin Luther King holiday and the moment of pause on April 4th - he was just a statue to me. I wanted to make him a little bit more real to me as a human being.

Katori Hall

#2. Cultivating relationships with people who've achieved what you want to achieve makes the path fuller and more fun.

Katori Hall

#3. Theatre is an exclusive place that tends to be dominated by white men, or dying white men.

Katori Hall

#4. Playwrights are the most gregarious writers - to get our work done, we need actors, directors, set designers.

Katori Hall

#5. I never, ever read the comments below an article on the Web. People are mean. I'm a human being.

Katori Hall

#6. I always crave to see more stories about and by people of color, particularly new work by young black writers.

Katori Hall

#7. Sometimes, unfortunately, hatred is more powerful than progress.

Katori Hall

#8. I always say that I'm a writer who writes more from place than race.

Katori Hall

#9. I feel the feminist movement has excluded black women. You cannot talk about being black and a woman within traditional feminist dialogue.

Katori Hall

#10. Many theaters are tackling the multifaceted work of black writers - established and emerging. Now the next step is for them to bring in audiences of color and continue to go out to our community and create a continuous connection that extends beyond the one black show in the season.

Katori Hall

#11. Unlike films, which can be easily disseminated worldwide via DVDs and the Internet, plays struggle to find an international audience.

Katori Hall

#12. Serendipity always rewards the prepared.

Katori Hall

#13. Most of the time, when I'm writing, I'm writing for myself. I'm thinking, 'What will my character say at this time? What will come out of her mouth?' I create individuals so real to me, I sometimes start talking to them. Then I let them loose on the page.

Katori Hall

#14. I always felt like Broadway was not for me - in terms of ticket price, in terms of what was on there. I never saw myself reflected in the mirror of the Great White Way.

Katori Hall

#15. In order to be great, you just have to care. You have to care about your world, community, and equality.

Katori Hall

#16. I think being an actor makes me a better writer and vice versa. I know the kinds of roles I would kill to play, and I try to create them for others.

Katori Hall

#17. Through school, I saw plenty of theatre my parents weren't necessarily up on. They would prefer a football game to watching 'The Nutcracker,' and that's fine. I enjoy both.

Katori Hall

#18. I grew up playing with kids from Hurt Village, playing with kids from other housing projects, Lamar Terrace, because my grandmother lived in that particular area. So, I always wondered how I would have turned out if I would have lived in that particular given circumstance.

Katori Hall

#19. Become your dream, and not be told what you are supposed to do.

Katori Hall

#20. Follow your intuition, listening to your dreams, your inner voice to guide you.

Katori Hall

#21. Don't let others put thoughts into your mind that takes away your self-confidence.

Katori Hall

#22. I'm very opinionated, very intelligent and not afraid to show that.

Katori Hall

#23. Like most playwrights, I hate talkbacks with a passion that can burn a hole through hell.

Katori Hall

#24. I feel a responsibility to continue creating complex roles for black women, especially young black women.

Katori Hall

#25. I started writing because I got so frustrated that there weren't enough plays that had roles for young black women in them.

Katori Hall

#26. 'Hurt Village' is based on a real housing project in Memphis, about three minutes away from the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. King was assassinated, so in my work I'm focusing on a very specific area in Memphis. I see 'Hurt Village' as a natural extension of 'The Mountaintop.'

Katori Hall

#27. We expect our leaders to be godlike. But I feel that when people try to sanctify leadership, it puts it out of the realm of regular people. And that's where the greatest leaders come from - from the people.

Katori Hall

#28. It is expensive to give plays subtitles, especially for a short run, so most new dramas rarely cross the transcontinental bridge.

Katori Hall

#29. I have so many different voices and stories to tell.

Katori Hall

#30. I'll never be August Wilson - but what I can be is more of myself.

Katori Hall

#31. I'm very Southern in the way I walk in the world. I love to laugh. I love to eat. I love to hug people. But if somebody makes me mad, my neck may roll. I can be aggressive with a Southern twang.

Katori Hall

#32. I used to think people above me might get jealous because I wanted to do what they did. But no, people are much nicer than that.

Katori Hall

#33. You don't know what's going to happen in the end, and that's what the best plays are.

Katori Hall