0:00
It took you six years to write in the Heights
0:03
What keeps you going? The idea itself keeps me going. You get to a point where it feels worse not to finish it than it does to finish it
0:16
At least I do. There's a good, like, lost year in the Heights development where I was just like, I don't know
0:24
I don't see the way forward. I had been writing by myself, I've been working with Tommy Kale, the director
0:29
but I was writing book, music, and lyrics. And I wrote one song in that year
0:34
It was Vanessa's song. It won't be long now. But I just, like, didn't see the way forward
0:39
I could see how to make it better, but I didn't see how to get there myself. And that's when I kind of said
0:44
I'd be happy to work with another playwright to figure this out. I really like writing the songs
0:49
But, like, it would actually be great to work with another playwright to do this. And then we started looking for bookwriters
0:54
And that's when I found Kiara. And once Kiara jumped aboard, it wrote fast
0:57
Like, I think that we met in the summer of 2004, summer 2005, we're at the O'Neill, like, developing basically an entirely new show, new show called in The Heights
1:08
So once I found her, it was like, we're off to the races
