SignatureStoriesVol9FINALsingles.pdf Jul. 2014 | Page 20

Siganture: Was it challenging to keep your double life going? AG: It was. I was a full professor at MIT at the time. The mental set that you have to run a class is very different from the mental set you have when you’re sitting at a desk, trying to write a play. Signature: What were you still working on as a writer in the ‘90s? AG: By then I discovered how enjoyable it was to work in the theatre, and how frustrating it was when I didn’t have anything on the typewriter. So I did everything I could to find stories, poems, anything — my play The Golden Age is based on a Henry James story — just to have the pleasure of writing plays. There wasn’t a major turn in my perspective of the world. I just became more interested and perhaps more knowledgeable about how to write a play. 19