Writrers and directors

An interesting piece about the sometimes strained relationship between playwrights and directors by Susan Dominus in The New York Times.

She talks to writer Richard Greenberg who is working with director on two new plays.

"I used to be quite deferential, and maybe not as useful as I could have been," said Mr. Greenberg, sitting in the upstairs lobby of the American Airlines Theater, where his latest play, "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way," will open Oct. 6. "I didn't want to tread one anyone's toes, and as a result, some things didn't bloom as fully as they might." Then, years later, when a few productions of his plays went awry, he became, as he put it, "monstrous." In the middle of one particularly painful rehearsal process, he said, he actually forbade the director from talking to him for the duration of the production. "It turned out that was equally ineffectual and much more unpleasant," said Mr. Greenberg with a laugh.