SOURCE: Wilson, Lanford, and John C. Tibbetts. “An Interview with Lanford Wilson.” Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 5, no. 2 (spring 1991): 175-80.

In the following interview, Wilson discusses his early life, writing process, and career with the Circle Repertory Company.

At the beginning of Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky, the character of Alan comes downstage out of the darkness. “I've been trying to tell this story, to get it down, for a long time,” he says to the audience, “—for a number of years, seven years at least—closer to ten.” Alan's lament is the playwright's dilemma. He explains that the story has been told dozens of times to friends, each time with different starts and different endings. He adds that the characters often disrupt matters and go off on their own, wilfully, sometimes destructively. “They wouldn't have any part of what I wanted them to say. They sat down...