In writing Three Tall Women, did you start with the bifurcated structure? 

I know I decided to write a two-act play, and I finished act one and one of my characters had a stroke and wouldn't be able to talk. I must have had that planned all along, but I hadn't told myself. The only thing that came as a complete surprise was when the boy came onstage. I remember stopping and saying, "Well, isn't that interesting? How did you ever figure that out?" But I trust what's going on in my head. I sort of record what's going on in my mind. 

Do you rewrite? 

I do most of my rewriting in my head and in my unconscious before I write things down. I don't second-guess myself. I don't make notes for posterity. 

Three Tall Women was first done in Vienna, with you directing. 

I direct a lot of my plays first time around because I have a very clear vision of what I want. It's really not very different from what's on the stage now. Larry Sacharow [director of the Off-Broadway production] and I work very closely together. Of course we had Myra Carter [as the character A], whose performances remained consistent from the first day of rehearsal  in Vienna until now. So Larry had double guidance as to the nature of the play, the rhythms, the mood, everything. I'm not trying to suggest Larry didn't do anything. I would only cut him off occasionally, when I thought he was veering too much toward originality--by which I mean away from what I had done. 

Were there any surprises for you, in the slightest, when the play was put up? 

No, it quite resembled what I'd written. 

I was surprised by how funny it was. 

The minute it gets too funny, I tell Larry to go in and somber it up just a little bit. The play's not meant to be a knee-slapper. It's a fairly subtle play, and all of the "delicate balances"--how's that?--have to be there. Either that or it's "all over." 

Did the staging follow the blueprint in your head? 

I don't care so much about staging. If somebody's going to be on stage, I want them on stage; if they're going to exit, I want them to leave; if they're going to be dead, I want them not wandering around. I don't write down at the first draft of every play exactly how many steps one moves--that's got to be fairly fluid and make sense. I always tell actors, whenever I direct, "You can do anything you want, as long as you end up with exactly what I want. 

Did you suspect that Three Tall Women would be so well received? 

I've learned over the years never to anticipate. I've written a number of plays I thought would please the critics and therefore allow the audience to have the chance to find out...Most people think my first five plays got great reviews, then it all started going downhill. Not so. Three Tall Women is the first play that has gotten almost unanimously favorable press in the United States. But I didn't expect it to, necessarily. 

I think of my plays as a continuing pattern of me writing. I don't think I've written a bad play or a good play; I don't think in those terms. This is Edward Albee's next play. And I'm interested in finding out if there is a relationship between my view of  it and anybody else's. Yes is better than no. But I don't get a swelled head from these things. I don't allow crucifixion in the press to destroy me, and I'm certainly not going to allow acclaim to destroy me, either. 

Do you sense stylistic differences from one play to the next? 

All of my plays are stylized, to one extent or another, but all drama is artifice. Within those parameters, all of my plays are absolutely naturalistic. Some are less what the audience expects than others, which is my definition of stylization. 

Have opportunities for playwrights diminished over the years? 

Sure they have, but theatre's always been a minority participation, like the string quartet. Fewer people pay attention to serious theatre--forget the dross on Broadway. It's making theatre an obscenely esoteric form. 

What about the current play-development model: readings, workshops, dramaturgs? 

There's a very, very good reason for that: It is to de-ball the plays; to castrate them; to smooth down all the rough edges so they can't cut, can't hurt. It's to make them commercially tolerable to a smug audience. It's not to make plays any better. Most playwrights who write a good play write it from the beginning. 

A lot of regional theatres have turned into tryout houses for the Broadway and commercial managements. A lot are lowering their ultimate aesthetic standards. I think a lot of the toughest and best plays are not being done by a lot of our regional theatres because they're not going to be popular. That's a corruption of the function of regional theatre. 

Is there any way out, given the vast economic pressures? 

Play to and inform audiences about what is ultimately truly valuable. I don't think American audiences are filled with imbeciles; I think American audiences are given very few choices between levels of mediocrity. Generally speaking, European people have a tradition of going to the theatre, even serious theatre. I'm sure that could happen here, if anybody wanted it to. 

Is there any irony for you in Three Tall Women being acclaimed as a "new" play when you wrote and first staged it several years ago? 

There's irony for me in everything.