No one moves more gracefully between Hollywood and New York. Out west, she wrote for NYPD Blue, among many TV shows, before creating her own, Smash. Back east, her plays include Mauritius, Seminar, and the Pulitzer finalist Omnium Gatherum. She won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, which isn’t really between Hollywood and New York, but we can’t be slaves to the map or the metaphor: she wouldn’t. Enjoy this recut conversation from 2014, with a bonus segment from another playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks.

• • PERSON: Seward Johnson
  • PLACE: her bed (not this one)
  • THING: a small Mexican sculpture

• • RANDY’S THING: a Knicks game, Death of a Salesman