Wright says the trouble with playwrighting is the money, or rather the lack thereof. Even with his successes, he has to "pay the mortgage writing scripts for Hollywood." (One movie script became the film Quills, named best film of 2000 by the National Board of Review.) Playwrights, he says, often are paid last - and when a play is struggling to break even, "it's not unusual for the playwright to be asked to defer income."

Why doesn't he stop writing plays, then? "I'm addicted. I've been addicted since I was a little boy and my parents put me into a jacket and tie and took me to see Life with Father at the Dallas Theater Center.

"There is one remarkable thing about playwrighting: We have absolute authority when it comes to how and where our work is presented. That's not true in film, because the studio owns the script. People will always write plays, because you get a sense of yourself as a genuine author. I will always think of myself as a playwright first."

Other marquee names: John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), Martin McDonagh (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Pillowman)


Producer
Margo Lion