Joe Mantello

As a director, you're incredibly proud when an individual steps up to the podium and is acknowledged for their work. But to have an entire company acknowledged, there is just no higher honor ever paid for that company - or for the director, for that matter.

One of my favorite experiences was '9 to 5,' for one reason: Dolly Parton. I learned what it means to really work hard and do it with a sense of humor about yourself. Every day was joyful.

I don't think of gay writers. I mean if you were to say to me who are the straight writers, well, you wouldn't ask me that question. So for me to identify a little tribe of gay writers, I don't know.

My associate director, Lisa Leguillou, is remarkable: flying around, visiting all the companies. She is truly the unsung hero of 'Wicked'. She has been by my side from day one, and she is invaluable. I frankly don't know how she does it.

I think, as written, 'Assassins' simply acknowledges the very human need to be acknowledged. As director, I've got to put aside any particular biases or prejudices that, as a moral human being, this is not an appropriate or acceptable way to get what you want.

I have a concentrated period of work for about five months, and then I take a bunch of time off. That's just the way I work.

I think the audiences in Chicago are really open. They're engaged and eager, and they don't feel cynical to me. Sometimes in New York, there's a sense of, 'Prove it to me; prove this is worth my time.' I never felt that in Chicago.

I was always the person in our class who was fascinated by new plays. I would go to the library all the time as new plays would come out.

Blackbird' is the only one I've ever wanted to redo. It just haunted me, this play. There was a sense of unfinished business because at the time we did it at Manhattan Theatre Club, there was real momentum to move it to Broadway.

But there is a process that happens when you're making something, be it a musical or a new play. That process takes time, and mistakes will be made along the way, and you will go down and hit dead ends. But it is so public now. Any yahoo with a computer can start a firestorm.

I know there are different kinds of actors, but I tend to have less effective relationships with actors who have a very private process - who really need to do lots of internal work, so that I become merely a witness until they're ready to share.

There are plenty of other actors who are wonderful that just don't work in a way that I work, or our methods aren't necessarily compatible. But then there are those you instinctually just are drawn to.