How Playwrights Deal With Productions That Muck With The Text

“Rajiv Joseph recalls the advice delivered in a class taught by none other than Edward Albee: ‘Be as explicit with instructions for delivering lines as possible.’ But at that point in his career, Mr. Joseph didn’t completely buy in to the opinion of a playwright known for exerting extreme authorial control. … His experience with Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo led him to think twice about Albee’s warning.” Journalist Stuart Miller talks with Joseph, Lynn Nottage, David Henry Hwang, Sarah Ruhl, David Lindsay-Abaire, and Lucy Thurber about how they deal with stagings they weren’t involved with that go places they didn’t intend.