Samm-Art Williams

North Carolina · born or raised1946–2024

American playwright and screenwriter

Born in Burgaw

screenwriter, playwright, television producer, actor

Quotations with a citation

I am more interested in how the human being approaches the issue instead of trying to write about the issue itself because we really know what the issues are in this life regardless of what we’re talking about…

I would like to see a character make his stand on what he things [sic] about it because that way I think I can get into the humanness of people, and that’s really where my head is.

The Vietnam War was raging at that particular time, so I wanted to do a positive play about a country character who was yearning for his home, as I was doing at Christmas…I drew on my experience growing up in the country - plowing mules, cropping tobacco, bootleggers, going to church. The rest was my imagination. I wanted to do something that could be performed on the streets - I love street theater. And I wanted my character to have a conscience.