The New York theater community is a place I know my way around in with some certainty,

This [gift] puts Signature on the map with major theaters in New York, like the Public Theater and Lincoln Center Theater, in that we are not only producing but also creating new musicals for America. That's really a big thing.

I was as happy doing theater in New York for little or no money as I am now doing television for more money. The happiness, I guess, comes out of it being a good job. The success has to do with the fact that it's a good job that will continue.

We used to do seven shows at day at the Capitol Theater in Washington and the Paramount in New York. The manager said you are doing the young crowd in the morning, the senior citizens in the afternoon, the engaged and married couples in the evening. And he said just sing good songs and everyone would like it. I stayed with that.

But ultimately I think that you need to go to either New York for theater or Los Angeles for television and movies.

'American Playhouse' is very supportive of writers. That's really why writers like to write for 'American Playhouse' for very little money. They care about making your play, your script, not some network production. We're treated like playwrights, not like fodder for some machine.