Beth Henley
Beth Henley
Elizabeth Becker "Beth" Henleyis an award-winning American playwright, screen writer, and actress. Her play, Crimes of the Heart won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the 1981 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, and a nomination for a Tony Award. Her screenplay for Crimes of the Heart was nominated for an Oscar as Best Adapted Screenplay...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth8 May 1952
CountryUnited States of America
play faults too-short
My fault now is making my plays too short.
art play art-is
The most glorious thing about working in the collaborative art is when you have somebody like Susan Kingsley or Kathy Bates who are better than your play.
play firsts lucky
My first few plays took place in the South and even The Lucky Spot was in the thirties but in Louisiana.
thinking play special
Plays are so much more special if they've never ever had a production, but I think you can really work on a play and make it better with each production.
mother play community-theatre
I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, really in suburbia, so my mother was in community theatre plays
couple writing play
I did write a couple of original screenplays, but I'd rather write plays
enlightening kind playwright
It was kind of enlightening to become a playwright.
play done ifs
That was always my inclination, to start on a new play before the other one gets done, because at least you'll have something to go back to if that play gets trashed.
detach enjoy love tried
I've always emotionally tried to detach myself from my screenwriting and just love doing it, enjoy doing it, and I try to do adaptations.
badly job nihilism taught time
I think I had a job in a children's theatre. I taught badly because I was into nihilism at the time and that's just not where you go with teaching.
producer unless
I didn't really know how to get it to a producer or how to get it to an agent. Nobody's going to look at it unless it's a success.
board perform trained
Yes, you have actors that are all over the board in how they've been trained and what they like and what they are used to or how they perform best.
control rehearsals utterly
When we were doing Control Freaks, it was all about being out of control in rehearsals and then doing a play that is so utterly controlled.
thinking people world
I find it fascinating to think about what the world is going to be like when people won't talk anymore.