Playwright Richard Greenberg seems to be an endless fount of new plays lately, providing New York theatres with Everett Beekin, The Dazzle and Take Me Out in the past two seasons.

The Violet Hour, at South Coast Repertory in California, is next. If tradition continues, it'll have a New York berth soon.

Does Greenberg feel he's been fecund?

"It's a coincidence of production," he explained in Playbill On-Line's Nov. 12-18 Brief Encounter interview. "It's not that I've been writing them that fast. For a while, I started to think I was in a slump because I hadn't written a play in a year and a half. But then it occurred to me it was because I had been in rehearsal all that time, so I forgave myself. These plays are a lot of work that goes back six or seven years now and, by accident, it's all getting done at the same time."

Nevertheless, he's been prolific of late, and he admitted he'd like to take a little break from words. "I'm tired," he said. "I sort of need a vacation. I don't have any words left. I want to sit on a porch somewhere. I don't want a strenuous vacation. I want something utterly passive. I could make it as far as Westchester, I think, and then I'll just have to sit on a lawn chair."

Among other things, Greenberg talked about the changes he's making to Take Me Out between its current Off-Broadway run at the Public Theater (to Nov. 24) and its February 2003 start on Broadway, and discussed the idea of "time" and how it informs all his works.

To view the Brief Encounter interview with Richard Greenberg, click here.