Each month on The Subtext, Brian speaks with a playwright about life, writing, and whatever itches we are scratching.

This time, he visits Theresa Rebeck at her Brooklyn brownstone. She discusses the student matinee performances that drew her to playwriting, disappointment with the continuing gender imbalance in American theatre, working on new musical Working Girl with Cyndi Lauper (at La Jolla Playhouse through Dec. 14), her upcoming adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple tales, the importance of humor and perseverance, her desire for contemporary public intellectuals in theatre, and advice on finishing first drafts.

Rebeck has been widely produced around the globe. Broadway plays include I Need That, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Dead Accounts, Seminar, and Mauritius. Other notable plays include Dig, Mad House, Seared, Downstairs, The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, Our House, The Understudy, Omnium Gatherum, and more. Her work as a director has been seen at Alley Theatre, the REP Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, the Orchard Project, and Folger Theatre. Major film and TV projects include Trouble, NYPD Blue, the NBC series Smash, the female spy thriller 355, and Glimpse. As a novelist, Rebeck’s books include Three Girls and Their Brother and I’m Glad About You. Rebeck is the recipient of the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, and a Lilly Award.