Katori Hall, writer of MLK play The Mountaintop and the forthcoming Hurt Village, had interesting words to share in a recent interview with the Huffington Post regarding her career and inspiration.

When asked how she originally came to be a playwright, Hall replied:

Out of frustration. I was taking acting at Barnard College in New York City, and my acting partner Kelli and I were given an assignment to go to the library and pull some scenes with two young black women in them like ourselves. We went through lots of books, and couldn’t find any scenes. Neither could our teacher when we asked for help. As a struggling young actress, I decided something was missing in American theater and that I would write those roles.

Given her common experience of under-representation, it seems fitting that Hall is part of an unprecedented Broadway season that includes works by three black female playwrights. She said of them:

There is a sense of sisterhood. The circle rises together. Hopefully, this will not be the last time this will happen. It’s important we reach out to others, too.

Finally, she offered this advice to aspiring writers:

Become your dream, and not be told what you are supposed to do. Follow your intuition, listening to your dreams, your inner voice to guide you. Don’t let others put thoughts into your mind that takes away your self-confidence.

Hall’s Mountaintop opens on Broadway today at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater. For details and tickets, click here.

For the full interview, click here.