assimilation that black Americans have been rejecting for the past 380 years.

I think all in all, one thing a lot of plays seem to be saying is that we need to, as black Americans, to make a connection with our past in order to determine the kind of future we're going to have. In other words, we simply need to know who we are in relation to our historical presence in America.

I write for myself, and my goal is bringing that world and that experience of black Americans to life on the stage and giving it a space there.

I don't look at our society today too much. My focus is still in the past, and part of the reason is because what I do - the wellspring of art, or what I do - l get from the blues. So I listen to the music of a particular period that I'm working on, and I think inside the music is clues to what is happening with the people.

We have been so close to beating the Americans in the past two Olympic finals. And this year we want to get some wins over them here in Australia, just to prove we can do it, and then we want to beat them in the gold medal game at the world championships in Brazil.

We have been so close to beating the Americans in the past two Olympic finals.