'An Octoroon' was written over about three years but premiered in 2014. I'm writing about America's relationship to its own history. Race or not, it's a story about suppression and oppression and many populations being devalued systematically.

More Quotes by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

I seem to belong to a boom moment of playwrights, and I'm always curious about how we all got here and what comes next.

My dream was always to have an experience where an audience member would turn to another audience member, a stranger, and be like, 'What did we just go through?' And, like, kind of begin to talk.

I spent summers with my mother's parents in Arkansas, where religion felt very present. My grandmother was Baptist, and my grandfather was Methodist. Double Southern whammy.

I have this thing called hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies. It's incredibly rare.

I identify as queer. I just don't know what any of these labels mean.

I was 23 when I wrote 'Neighbors,' and I definitely look back at it now and cringe a little bit. I was trying to understand what drama was.