Richard Cotovsky Quotes

Abbie Hoffman's inspiration was, in a sense, inadvertent. I wanted to do something to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Woodstock at the time, and it just happened that Abbie died the same year. Hoffman was always an inspiration to me, for his activism and execution of that activism, and any of his books will give you a guide and a map to creating almost anything, if you apply it to what it is you want to do.

Everyone is hustling to get there, and get their two cents in, but are their ideas really well respected? Is there stance in society respected? Respect comes out of living the right way, but it does not always work out that way. People with money, power, they tend to get respect but the the real concept of respect is from people who are truthful and sincere about what is going on.

I had to create a children's show, because we wanted the money - and it was, interestingly enough, the first project at the Angel Island theatre space. We did the show, an adaptation of Grimm's Fairy Tales. It was hardcore Grimm - nothing was sanitized - and it was called 'The Mary-Arrchie Kid's Show.' It was well-received, and so I applied to do it through Urban Gateways in Chicago.

I'm not going to look back. 'Don't look back, something might be gaining on you.' I don't have anything specific in mind. I want to do what comes my way. No plans, no idea, I believe in things happening organically. Right now the plan is to wrap things up - we've got one more Abbie Hoffman Fest to put together - whatever happens after that is unknown. I'm not going to push anything beyond passive behavior.