Quotes from Michael Arden

A lot of times, comedy writers will go for the gay joke, and I've been vocal about saying, 'Go for the smart joke.'

My grandparents, Jim and Pat Moore, were an incredible couple. They drove me to the community theater, where I did plays as a kid.

Unless we build theater and performing arts, then we're not going to be creating future patrons. We need to make it accessible.

The deaf community has shaped me as an artist and a person, and I am very grateful that I have been able to share and create so much art with a group of people I would have never imagined sharing and creating with. It's a true testament to the power of theater. There are no walls.

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.

Every decision you make has a consequence.

When you step off a plane into a place like Haiti, you're just surrounded by overwhelming stimulus: the people selling you things, asking you to engage.

There is no distinction, no echelon of actors within a company. A company is only as strong as its weakest link.

I read 'Huffington Post' as if I am a shareholder.

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

We don't ever realize how precious life is while we're living it.

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

I was lucky enough to make my Broadway debut in 'Big River.'

My favorite collaborator is Dane Laffrey, who designed the set for 'Once on This Island,' but we've worked together since high school, when he was my roommate.

I love Disney.

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

Growing up as a gay boy in West Texas, I definitely felt like a bit of an outcast sometimes - that there was a world that I would never be a part of.

The protest that we go to or the time that we stand up for someone or do the right thing - despite its difficulty... We might not see the return of it, but who knows whose lives we can change by doing those things.

Haiti is a proud nation, rich in heritage and spirituality. How they have been able to not only survive but thrive is a testament to how the Haitian people have come together to rebuild, create new families, and care for one another.

At the end of the day, we need to realize that segregation is not the human condition at its best. Which isn't to say we need to all be the same. It simply means we need to embrace each other's differences to help tell our stories together.

I had taken a directing class in high school. Looking back on it now, I think it was all heading that way.

Helping to open up the conversation about inclusion and diversity in casting has been a dream come true.

I refuse to go onstage without looking into the eyes and touching everyone I'm working with... we're all in it together, and everyone's an equal part when we're onstage.

Sometimes, disaster can inspire ingenuity.