Michael Arden

I remember sitting at home in West Texas listening to my 'Songs for a New World' CD over and over.

It's my goal to help actors achieve their best work, and I think I speak the same language as actors, so I understand how they do it, and I just love being able to create the playground in which they build their beautiful sandcastle.

I would love to create a piece of theater that is devised by a company of actors and creators that I'd put together, and I'd love for it to be nonverbal so it's something that someone with any communication ability can enjoy.

The love I have for my husband is intertwined with his, and we are two individuals looking in the same direction - as opposed to staring in each other's eyes all the time.

I'm interested in people's relationship to objects, so I think a lot of my work is very tactile.

I love Disney.

Say you have a young black kid, and you come to see a Sondheim show. You love the material, but you look on stage, and you don't see anyone who looks like you. That puts a barrier between the audience and what they're trying to absorb.

I would want everyone to love someone in the purest sense of the word - an unconditional love in which you don't expect anything in return.

I often think about what love can inspire in the world, not just in the eyes of the object of your affection.

You can't ever go back; life is incredibly short and fragile.

Before working with Deaf West, I had never met a deaf person, and now I can't imagine life without ASL.

As someone who lives with an animal, I think it's important to learn how to responsibly care for souls who don't have their own voice. They can't advocate for themselves.