What inspires us?

Sanctuary: was born out of our collective experience as playwrights working in Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theatre in NYC and in regional theatre all around the US. We find a culture where - due more to necessity than any particular intent - the playwright's role is marginal.

Sure, we've self-produced many times, never mistaking a playwright for a mere scribe. But always there was a sense of illegitimacy to these efforts... as if self-production represented "vanity" production. Really, it enables us to break free of the unintentional constraints our our theatrical culture and create theatre that matched our individual visions. When we think of the modern - living - playwrights that inspire us - Sam Shepard, Richard Foreman, Lisa D'Amour, Erik Ehn, Paula Vogel, Mac Wellman - we always think of those who not only write but also make theatre. Even when we think of past playwrights, we think of those who made theatre happen, and didn't hide in their writing rooms - from Euripides to Shakespeare, Moliere to O'Neill, they were as active in seeing their plays produced as they were crafting them.

Add to that Todd London's article in American Theatre November 2002 The Shape of Plays to Come. And everything changed. Suddenly self-production, which always before seemed to be "busy work" between "real" productions of our plays by small NYC and regional companies, took on a different light. And we realized - playwrights have been self-producing for thousands of years. This is no different.

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