When ''night, Mother' Opened, I Did Not

Mama, I Know You Used To Ride The Bus. Riding The Bus, And It’s Hot And Bumpy And Crowded And Too Noisy, And More Than Anything Else In The World, You Wanna Get Off. And The Only Reason In The World You Don’t Get Off Is It’s Still Fifty Blocks From Where You’re Going. Well, I Can Get Off Right Now If I Want To. Because Even If I Ride Fifty More Years And Get Off Then, It’s Still The Same Place When I Step Down To It. Whenever I Feel Like It, I Can Get Off. Whenever I’ve Had Enough, It’s My Stop. I’ve Had Enough.

No. You Can't. And I Can't Do Anything Either, About My Life, To Change It, Make It Better, Make Me Feel Better About It. Like It Better, Make It Work. But I Can Stop It. Shut It Down, Turn It Off Like The Radio When There's Nothing On I Want To Listen To. It's All I Really Have That Belongs To Me And I'm Going To Say What Happens To It. And It's Going To Stop. And I'm Going To Stop It. So. Let's Just Have A Good Time.

What's So Good About A Heaven Where, One Of These Days, You're Going To Get Your Embarrassing Old Body Back?

When ''night, Mother' Opened, I Did Not Know How Long It Would Be Before I Would Have Another Show On Broadway.

The Theater Is A Communal Event, Like Church. The Playwright Constructs A Mass To Be Performed For A Lot Of People. She Writes A Prayer, Which Is Really Just The Longings Of One Heart.