Almost every college playwright or sketch or improv comedian was sort of aware of Christopher Durang - even kids in high school. His short plays were so accessible to younger people and I think that was inspirational to me.

For some reason I can't explain artist and musicians tend to look younger than our age. Being in music you need this youthful sense of discovery and wonder for what you're doing and keep your imagination open. That's a youthful way of looking at life and I think that reflects in how you age.

But because it was able to balance that kind of humor with a sweet story and characters you really rooted for and also got across the girls' point of view I've heard nothing but great things from younger and older females as well.

I'm thrilled to continue my partnership with U by Kotex for Generation Know while helping to empower girls. I've always been a motivational resource for my younger sisters and hope I can positively impact and inspire other young girls too.

You have to have hope. It's irresponsible to give false hope which I think a lot of playwrights are guilty of. But I also think it's irresponsible to simply be a nihilist which quite a lot of playwrights especially playwrights younger than me have become guilty of.

When I was younger my coach Liang Chow made all the decisions. I would go to the gym for practice do exactly what Chow told me to do go home come back and start all over again. If Chow told me to do 50 squat jumps I did 50 squat jumps.

It is always self-defeating to pretend to a generation younger than your own it simply erases your own experience in history.

We can't understand when we're pregnant or when our siblings are expecting how profound it is to have a shared history with a younger generation: blood genes humor. It means we were actually here on Earth for a time - like the Egyptians with their pyramids only with children.

We all have a hungry heart and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could I stayed where I was happy. I spent a great deal of time in my younger years just writing and reading walking around the woods in Ohio where I grew up.

You will attract the younger generation and they might well prove tougher than the older generation. What we are trying to do is to look at the future and see what we can do to bring some stability back to people's lives.