Tony Kushner
Encyclopedia
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American playwright
and screenwriter
. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth
the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich
.
, New York
to Jewish clarinetist and conductor
William Kushner and bassoonist Sylvia Deutscher. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana
, the seat of Calcasieu Parish where he spent his childhood. During high school Kushner had a reputation in policy debate, at one point going to a camp, and making it to the final rounds. Kushner moved to New York in 1974 to begin his undergraduate college education at Columbia University
, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Medieval Studies in 1978. He studied directing at New York University
's Graduate School until 1984. During graduate school, he spent the summers of 1978-1981 directing both early original works (Masque of Owls and Incidents and Occurrences During the Travels of the Tailor Max) and plays by Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream
and The Tempest
) for the children attending the Governor's Program for Gifted Children (GPGC) in Lake Charles.
Kushner received an honorary doctorate in May 2011 from CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice
. In 2008, also he received a Honorary Degree
of Doctor of Letters
from SUNY Purchase College.
Kushner's best known work is Angels in America
(a play in two parts: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika), a seven-hour epic about the AIDS epidemic in Reagan-era New York, which was later adapted into a miniseries for which Kushner wrote the screenplay. His other plays include Hydriotaphia, Slavs!: Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness, A Bright Room Called Day
, Homebody/Kabul, and the book for the musical Caroline, or Change
. His new translation of Bertolt Brecht
's Mother Courage and Her Children
was performed at the Delacorte Theater in the summer of 2006 starring Meryl Streep
and directed by George C. Wolfe
. Kushner has also adapted Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan
, Corneille's The Illusion
, and S. Ansky
's play The Dybbuk.
In the early 2000s, Kushner began writing for film. His co-written screenplay Munich
was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg
in 2005. In January 2006, a documentary feature about Kushner entitled Wrestling With Angels
debuted at the Sundance Film Festival
. The film was directed by Freida Lee Mock
. In April 2011 it was announced that he is currently working with Spielberg again, writing the screenplay for an adaptation of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin
‘s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
.
Kushner is famous for frequent revisions and years-long gestations of his plays. Both Angels in America: Perestroika and Homebody/Kabul were significantly revised even after they were first published. Kushner has admitted that the original script version of Angels in America: Perestroika is nearly double the length of the theatrical version. His newest completed work, the play The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures
, began as a novel more than a decade ago.
For example, the Angels in America
plays together contain almost 50 scenes. His condensed, heightened dialogue
compacts the action into impacting, concise bursts. He still proves effective in a more traditional, "long form" structure; three of the acts in Perestroika
are long, single scenes. He is not afraid of spectacle - extraordinary moments that stay on target, not simply for show. Again in Angels, we witness a midnight appearance from an angel, and a frightening daytime appearance of a Biblical harbinger of revelation. The play A Bright Room Called Day
, and The Illusion
, his 1990 adaptation of Pierre Corneille's L'illusion comique
, are primarily in verse, showing an almost Shakespearean love of poetry. Still, his subjects remain current, and, like Henrik Ibsen
, he creates stories that give rise to social discussion, instead of being simply "issue plays."
's treatment of the Palestinians
and of the increased religious extremism in Israeli politics and culture has created some controversy in the American Jewish community
, including some opposition to his receiving an honorary doctorate at the 2006 commencement of Brandeis University
. The Zionist Organization of America
unsuccessfully lobbied the university to rescind its invitation to Kushner. During the controversy, quotes critical of Zionism
and Israel made by Kushner were circulated. Kushner said at the time that his quotes were "grossly mischaracterized." Kushner told the Jewish Advocate in an interview, "All that anybody seems to be reading is a couple of right-wing Web sites taking things deliberately out of context and excluding anything that would complicate the picture by making me seem like a reasonable person, which I basically think I am." In an interview with the Jewish Independent, Kushner commented, "I want the state of Israel to continue to exist. I've always said that. I've never said anything else. My positions have been lied about and misrepresented in so many ways. People claim that I'm for a one-state solution, which is not true." However, he later stated that he hopes that "there might be a merging of the two countries because [they're] geographically kind of ridiculous looking on a map," although he acknowledged that political realities make this unlikely in the near future.
On May 2, 2011, the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York
(CUNY), at their monthly public meeting, voted to remove (by tabling to avoid debate) Kushner's name from the list of people invited to receive honorary degrees, based on a statement by trustee Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld about Kushner's purported statements and beliefs about Zionism and Israel. In response, the CUNY Graduate Center Advocate began a live blog on the "Kushner Crisis" situation, including news coverage and statements of support from faculty and academics. Three days later, CUNY issued a public statement that the Board is independent. On May 6, three previous honorees stated they intended to return their degrees: Barbara Ehrenreich
, Michael Cunningham
and Ellen Schrecker
.Tony Kushner row deepens as supporters renounce honorary degrees, The Guardian
, 6 May 2011 Wiesenfeld has said that if Kushner would renounce his anti-Israel statements in front of the board of trustees, he would be willing to vote for him. The same day, the board of trustees moved to reverse its decision.
and author of Pictures at a Revolution – Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, held a commitment ceremony in April 2003, the first same-sex commitment ceremony to be featured in the Vows column of the New York Times. In summer 2008 they were legally married at the city hall in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Nominations
Other
Interviews
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth
Eric Roth
Eric Roth is an American screenwriter. He won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Forrest Gump . He also co-wrote the screenplay for Michael Mann's The Insider , the Steven Spielberg film Munich , and David Fincher's film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , all of which were nominated for...
the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich
Munich (film)
Munich is a 2005 historical fiction film about the Israeli government's secret retaliation attacks after the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Black September terrorist group during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film stars Eric Bana and was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg...
.
Life and career
Kushner was born in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to Jewish clarinetist and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
William Kushner and bassoonist Sylvia Deutscher. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
, the seat of Calcasieu Parish where he spent his childhood. During high school Kushner had a reputation in policy debate, at one point going to a camp, and making it to the final rounds. Kushner moved to New York in 1974 to begin his undergraduate college education at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Medieval Studies in 1978. He studied directing at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Graduate School until 1984. During graduate school, he spent the summers of 1978-1981 directing both early original works (Masque of Owls and Incidents and Occurrences During the Travels of the Tailor Max) and plays by Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
and The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
) for the children attending the Governor's Program for Gifted Children (GPGC) in Lake Charles.
Kushner received an honorary doctorate in May 2011 from CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a senior college of the City University of New York in Midtown Manhattan, New York City and is the only liberal arts college with a criminal justice and forensic focus in the United States. The college offers programs in Forensic Science and Forensic...
. In 2008, also he received a Honorary Degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
of Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
from SUNY Purchase College.
Kushner's best known work is Angels in America
Angels in America
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
(a play in two parts: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika), a seven-hour epic about the AIDS epidemic in Reagan-era New York, which was later adapted into a miniseries for which Kushner wrote the screenplay. His other plays include Hydriotaphia, Slavs!: Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness, A Bright Room Called Day
A Bright Room Called Day
A Bright Room Called Day is a play by American playwright Tony Kushner, author of the better-known Angels in America.-Synopsis:The play is set in Germany in 1932 and 1933, and concerns a group of friends caught up in the events of the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise to power of Adolf...
, Homebody/Kabul, and the book for the musical Caroline, or Change
Caroline, or Change
Caroline, or Change is a through-composed musical with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner and score by Jeanine Tesori that combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, and Jewish klezmer and folk music....
. His new translation of Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's Mother Courage and Her Children
Mother Courage and Her Children
Mother Courage and Her Children is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin...
was performed at the Delacorte Theater in the summer of 2006 starring Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
and directed by George C. Wolfe
George C. Wolfe
George Costello Wolfe is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction of the musical, Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk.-Early life and...
. Kushner has also adapted Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan
The Good Person of Szechwan
The Good Person of Szechwan is a play written by the German theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin and Ruth Berlau. The play was begun in 1938 but not completed until 1943, while the author was in exile in the United States...
, Corneille's The Illusion
The Illusion
The Illusion is a play by Tony Kushner, adapted from Pierre Corneille's seventeenth-century comedy, L'Illusion Comique. It follows a contrite father, Pridamant, seeking news of his prodigal son from the sorcerer Alcandre. The magician conjures three episodes from the young man's life...
, and S. Ansky
S. Ansky
Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport , known by his pseudonym S. Ansky , was a Russian Jewish author, playwright, and researcher of Jewish folklore....
's play The Dybbuk.
In the early 2000s, Kushner began writing for film. His co-written screenplay Munich
Munich (film)
Munich is a 2005 historical fiction film about the Israeli government's secret retaliation attacks after the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Black September terrorist group during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film stars Eric Bana and was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg...
was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
in 2005. In January 2006, a documentary feature about Kushner entitled Wrestling With Angels
Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner
Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner is a 2006 documentary film that follows the personal and political life of Tony Kushner, leading American playwright and author of the epochal Angels in America...
debuted at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. The film was directed by Freida Lee Mock
Freida Lee Mock
Freida Lee Mock is a filmmaker, credited with producing films about a wide variety of historical and contemporary subjects. She is a co-founder of the American Film Foundation with Terry Sanders....
. In April 2011 it was announced that he is currently working with Spielberg again, writing the screenplay for an adaptation of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer and historian, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S...
‘s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln is a book by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin published in 2005. The book is a biographical portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and some of the men who served with him in his Cabinet from 1861 to 1865...
.
Kushner is famous for frequent revisions and years-long gestations of his plays. Both Angels in America: Perestroika and Homebody/Kabul were significantly revised even after they were first published. Kushner has admitted that the original script version of Angels in America: Perestroika is nearly double the length of the theatrical version. His newest completed work, the play The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures
The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures
The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures is a 2009 play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The world premiere was directed by Michael Greif at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, opening on May 15, 2009 in previews and running through June 28...
, began as a novel more than a decade ago.
Kushner's style
Kushner's plays and screenplays are often a departure from typical Realism, experimenting with conventional storytelling by using shorter episodes.For example, the Angels in America
Angels in America
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
plays together contain almost 50 scenes. His condensed, heightened dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
compacts the action into impacting, concise bursts. He still proves effective in a more traditional, "long form" structure; three of the acts in Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
are long, single scenes. He is not afraid of spectacle - extraordinary moments that stay on target, not simply for show. Again in Angels, we witness a midnight appearance from an angel, and a frightening daytime appearance of a Biblical harbinger of revelation. The play A Bright Room Called Day
A Bright Room Called Day
A Bright Room Called Day is a play by American playwright Tony Kushner, author of the better-known Angels in America.-Synopsis:The play is set in Germany in 1932 and 1933, and concerns a group of friends caught up in the events of the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise to power of Adolf...
, and The Illusion
The Illusion
The Illusion is a play by Tony Kushner, adapted from Pierre Corneille's seventeenth-century comedy, L'Illusion Comique. It follows a contrite father, Pridamant, seeking news of his prodigal son from the sorcerer Alcandre. The magician conjures three episodes from the young man's life...
, his 1990 adaptation of Pierre Corneille's L'illusion comique
L'Illusion Comique
L'Illusion Comique is a comedic play by Pierre Corneille, written in 1636. In its use of meta-theatricality , it is far ahead of its time. It was first performed at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1636 and published in 1639....
, are primarily in verse, showing an almost Shakespearean love of poetry. Still, his subjects remain current, and, like Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
, he creates stories that give rise to social discussion, instead of being simply "issue plays."
Political views
Kushner's criticism of IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's treatment of the Palestinians
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
and of the increased religious extremism in Israeli politics and culture has created some controversy in the American Jewish community
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
, including some opposition to his receiving an honorary doctorate at the 2006 commencement of Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
. The Zionist Organization of America
Zionist Organization of America
The Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
unsuccessfully lobbied the university to rescind its invitation to Kushner. During the controversy, quotes critical of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
and Israel made by Kushner were circulated. Kushner said at the time that his quotes were "grossly mischaracterized." Kushner told the Jewish Advocate in an interview, "All that anybody seems to be reading is a couple of right-wing Web sites taking things deliberately out of context and excluding anything that would complicate the picture by making me seem like a reasonable person, which I basically think I am." In an interview with the Jewish Independent, Kushner commented, "I want the state of Israel to continue to exist. I've always said that. I've never said anything else. My positions have been lied about and misrepresented in so many ways. People claim that I'm for a one-state solution, which is not true." However, he later stated that he hopes that "there might be a merging of the two countries because [they're] geographically kind of ridiculous looking on a map," although he acknowledged that political realities make this unlikely in the near future.
On May 2, 2011, the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
(CUNY), at their monthly public meeting, voted to remove (by tabling to avoid debate) Kushner's name from the list of people invited to receive honorary degrees, based on a statement by trustee Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld about Kushner's purported statements and beliefs about Zionism and Israel. In response, the CUNY Graduate Center Advocate began a live blog on the "Kushner Crisis" situation, including news coverage and statements of support from faculty and academics. Three days later, CUNY issued a public statement that the Board is independent. On May 6, three previous honorees stated they intended to return their degrees: Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich
-Early life:Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Howes Alexander in Butte, Montana, which she describes as then being "a bustling, brawling, blue collar mining town."...
, Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.-Early life and education:...
and Ellen Schrecker
Ellen Schrecker
Ellen Wolf Schrecker, Ph.D. is a professor of American history at Yeshiva University. She is currently teaching and has received the Frederick Ewen Academic Freedom Fellowship at the Tamiment Library at NYU....
.Tony Kushner row deepens as supporters renounce honorary degrees, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 6 May 2011 Wiesenfeld has said that if Kushner would renounce his anti-Israel statements in front of the board of trustees, he would be willing to vote for him. The same day, the board of trustees moved to reverse its decision.
Personal life
Kushner and Mark Harris, an editor of Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
and author of Pictures at a Revolution – Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, held a commitment ceremony in April 2003, the first same-sex commitment ceremony to be featured in the Vows column of the New York Times. In summer 2008 they were legally married at the city hall in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Plays
- The Age of Assassins, New York, Newfoundland Theatre, 1982.
- La Fin de la Baleine: An Opera for the Apocalypse, New York, Ohio Theatre, 1983.
- The Heavenly Theatre, produced at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, 1984.
- The Umbrella Oracle, Martha's Vineyard, The Yard, Inc..
- Last Gasp at the Cataract, Martha's Vineyard, The Yard, Inc., 1984.
- Yes, Yes, No, No: The Solace-of-Solstice, Apogee/Perigee, Bestial/Celestial Holiday Show, produced in St. Louis, Imaginary Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, 1985, published in Plays in Process, 1987.
- Stella (adapted from the play by Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
), produced in New York City, 1987. - A Bright Room Called DayA Bright Room Called DayA Bright Room Called Day is a play by American playwright Tony Kushner, author of the better-known Angels in America.-Synopsis:The play is set in Germany in 1932 and 1933, and concerns a group of friends caught up in the events of the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise to power of Adolf...
, first produced in New York, Theatre 22, April 1985. - In Great Eliza's Golden Time, produced in St. Louis, Missouri, Imaginary Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, 1986.
- Hydriotaphia, produced in New York City, 1987 (based on the life on Sir Thomas BrowneThomas BrowneSir Thomas Browne was an English author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric....
) - The Illusion (adapted from Pierre CorneillePierre CorneillePierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
's play L'illusion comiqueL'Illusion ComiqueL'Illusion Comique is a comedic play by Pierre Corneille, written in 1636. In its use of meta-theatricality , it is far ahead of its time. It was first performed at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1636 and published in 1639....
; produced in New York City, 1988, revised version produced in Hartford, CT, 1990), Broadway Play Publishing, 1991. - In That Day (Lives of the Prophets), New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, 1989.
- (With Ariel DorfmanAriel DorfmanVladimiro Ariel Dorfman is an Argentine-Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American Studies at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina since 1985.-Personal...
) Widows (adapted from a book by Ariel Dorfman), produced in Los Angeles, CA, 1991. - Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National ThemesAngels in AmericaAngels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
, Part One: Millennium Approaches (produced in San Francisco, 1991), Hern, 1992. - Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Part Two: Perestroika, produced in New York City, 1992.
- Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (includes both parts), Theatre Communications Group (New York, NY), 1995.
- Slavs! Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness, Theatre Communications Group, 1995.
- Reverse Transcription: Six Playwrights Bury a Seventh, A Ten-Minute Play That's Nearly Twenty Minutes Long, Louisville, Humana Festival of New American Plays, Actors Theatre of Louisville, March 1996.
- A DybbukDybbukIn Jewish folklore, a dybbuk is a malicious or malevolent possessing spirit believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person.Dybbuks are said to have escaped from Sheol or to have been turned away for serious transgressions, such as suicide, for which the soul is denied entry...
, or Between Two Worlds (adapted from Joachim NeugroschelJoachim NeugroschelJoachim Neugroschel was a well known literary translator from French, German, Italian, Russian, and Yiddish, and also to German. He also published poetry and was a poetry magazine founder.- Biography :...
's translation of the original Yiddish play by S. AnskyS. AnskyShloyme Zanvl Rappoport , known by his pseudonym S. Ansky , was a Russian Jewish author, playwright, and researcher of Jewish folklore....
; produced in New York City at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, 1997), Theatre Communications Group, 1997. - The Good Person of Szechuan (adapted from the original play by Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
), Arcade, 1997. - (With Eric BogosianEric BogosianEric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
and others) Love's Fire: Seven New Plays Inspired by Seven Shakespearean Sonnets, Morrow, 1998. - Terminating, or Lass Meine Schmerzen Nicht Verloren Sein, or Ambivalence, in Love's Fire, Minneapolis, Guthrie Theater Lab, 7 January 1998; New York: Joseph Papp Public Theater, 19 June 1998.
- Henry Box BrownHenry Box BrownHenry "Box" Brown was a 19th century Virginia slave who escaped to freedom by arranging to have himself mailed to Philadelphia abolitionists in a wooden crate...
, or the Mirror of Slavery, performed at the National TheatreRoyal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, London, 1998. - Homebody/Kabul, first performed in New York City, December 2001.
- Caroline, or ChangeCaroline, or ChangeCaroline, or Change is a through-composed musical with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner and score by Jeanine Tesori that combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, and Jewish klezmer and folk music....
(musical), first performed in New York at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, 2002. - (Director)Ellen McLaughlin, Helen, produced at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, 2002.
- Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy, 2003.
- Translation with “liberties”—but purportedly “not an adaptation”—of Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
’s Mother Courage and Her ChildrenMother Courage and Her ChildrenMother Courage and Her Children is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin...
(2006) - The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the ScripturesThe Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the ScripturesThe Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures is a 2009 play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The world premiere was directed by Michael Greif at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, opening on May 15, 2009 in previews and running through June 28...
Minneapolis, Guthrie Theater, 2009. - Tiny Kushner, a performance of five shorter plays, premiered at the Guthrie TheaterGuthrie TheaterThe Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...
, Minneapolis, 2009
Books
- A Meditation from Angels in America, HarperSan Francisco, 1994.
- Thinking about the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness: Essays, a Play, Two Poems, and a Prayer, Theatre Communications Group (New York, NY), 1995.
- Howard CruseHoward CruseHoward Cruse is an American alternative cartoonist known for the exploration of gay themes in his comics.Cruse was raised in Springville, Alabama, the son of a preacher and a homemaker. His earliest published cartoons were in The Baptist Student when he was in high school. His work later appeared...
, Stuck Rubber BabyStuck Rubber BabyStuck Rubber Baby is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Howard Cruse, first published in 1995. Set mostly in the 1960s in the Southern United States, in the midst of the Black Civil Rights movement, it deals with homosexuality and racism....
, introduction by Kushner (New York: Paradox Press, 1995). - David B. Feinberg, Queer and Loathing: Rants and Raves of a Raging AIDS Clone, introduction by Kushner (New York: Penguin, 1995).
- David WojnarowiczDavid WojnarowiczDavid Wojnarowicz was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.-Biography:...
, The Waterfront Journals, edited by Amy Scholder, introduction by Kushner (New York: Grove, 1996). - "Three Screeds from Key West: For Larry Kramer," in We Must Love One Another or Die: The Life and Legacies of Larry Kramer, edited by Lawrence D. Mass (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997), pp. 191–199.
- Moises Kaufman, Gross Indecency, afterword by Kushner (New York: Vintage, 1997), pp. 135–143.
- Plays by Tony Kushner (New York: Broadway Play Publishing, 1999). Includes:
- A Bright Room called Day
- The Illusion
- Slavs! Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness
- Death & Taxes: Hydrotaphia, and Other Plays, Theatre Communications Group (New York, NY), 2000. Includes:
- Reverse transcription
- Hydriotaphia: or the Death of Dr. Browne, (adaptation of Hydriotaphia, Urn BurialHydriotaphia, Urn BurialHydriotaphia, Urn Burial, or a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk, is a work by Sir Thomas Browne, published in 1658 as the first part of a two-part work that concludes with The Garden of Cyrus....
, a fictitious, imaginary account of Sir Thomas Browne's character not based upon fact) - G. David Schine in HellG. David Schine in HellG. David Schine in Hell is a one act play written by Tony Kushner. The play centers on G. David Schine, who arrives in Hell and is re-united with Roy Cohn, Richard Nixon, Whittaker Chambers, and J. Edgar Hoover....
- Notes on AkibaAkibaAkiba may refer to:*Akiba-kei, a Japanese slang term*Tadatoshi Akiba , mayor of Hiroshima* Akiba, a subgenus of protozoa in the genus LeucocytozoonIn entertainment:* Akiba , a 2006 Japanese film...
- Terminating
- East Coast Ode to Howard JarvisHoward JarvisHoward Arnold Jarvis was an American businessman, lobbyist, and politician. He was an anti-tax activist responsible for passage of California's Proposition 13 in 1978.-Early life and education:...
- BrundibarBrundibárBrundibár is a children's opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, originally performed by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia...
, illustrated by Maurice SendakMaurice SendakMaurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
, Hyperion Books for Children, 2003. - Peter's Pixie, by Donn Kushner, illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault, introduction by Tony Kushner, Tundra Books, 2003
- The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present, 2003
- Save Your Democratic Citizen Soul!: Rants, Screeds, and Other Public Utterances
- Wrestling with ZionZionZion is a place name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem. The word is first found in Samuel II, 5:7 dating to c.630-540 BCE...
: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, with Alisa Solomon, Grove, 2003.
Essays
- "The Secrets of Angels". The New York Times, 27 March 1994, p. H5.
- "The State of the Theatre". Times Literary Supplement, 28 April 1995, p. 14.
- "The Theater of Utopia". Theater, 26 (1995): 9-11.
- "The Art of the Difficult". Civilization, 4 (August/September 1997): 62-67.
- "Notes About Political Theater," Kenyon Review, 19 (Summer/Fall 1997): 19-34.
- "Wings of Desire". Premiere, October 1997: 70.
- "Fo's Last Laugh--I". Nation, 3 November 1997: 4-5.
- "Matthew's Passion". Nation, 9 November 1998
- "A Modest Proposal". American Theatre, January 1998: 20-22, 77-89.
- "A Word to Graduates: Organize!". Nation, 1 July 2002.
- "Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy". Nation, 24 March 2003.
Other works
- La Fin de la Baleine: An Opera for the Apocalypse, (opera) 1983
- St. Cecilia or The Power of Music, (opera libretto based on Heinrich von KleistHeinrich von KleistBernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :...
's eighteenth-century story Die heilige Cäcilie oder Die Gewalt der Musik, Eine Legende) - Brundibar, (an opera in collaboration with Maurice Sendak)
- MunichMunich (film)Munich is a 2005 historical fiction film about the Israeli government's secret retaliation attacks after the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Black September terrorist group during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film stars Eric Bana and was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg...
, a film by Steven Spielberg (2005) - screenplay (co-written by)
Interviews
- Gerard Raymond, "Q & A With Tony Kushner," Theatre Week (20–26 December 1993): 14-20.
- Mark Marvel, "A Conversation with Tony Kushner," Interview, 24 (February 1994): 84.
- David Savran, "Tony Kushner," in Speaking on Stage: Interviews with Contemporary American Playwrights, edited by Philip C. Kolin and Colby H. Kullman (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1996), pp. 291–313.
- Robert Vorlicky, ed., Tony Kushner in Conversation (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998).
- Victor Wishna, "Tony Kushner," in In Their Company: Portraits of American Playwrights, Photographs by Ken Collins, Interviews by Victor Wishna (New York: Umbrage Editions, 2006).
- Jesse Tisch, "The Perfectionist: An Interview with Tony Kushner," Secular Culture & Ideas 2009.
Awards and nominations
Awards- 1993 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play – Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
- 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama – Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
- 1993 Tony Award for Best Play – Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
- 1994 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play – Angels in America: Perestroika
- 1994 Tony Award for Best Play – Angels in America: Perestroika
- 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, Angels in AmericaAngels in America (miniseries)Angels in America is a 2003 HBO miniseries adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name by Tony Kushner. Kushner adapted his original text for the screen, and Mike Nichols directed...
- 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical – Caroline, or Change
- 2008 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award
- 2011 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative CitizenshipPuffin/Nation Prize for Creative CitizenshipThe Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship is an American award citation given jointly by the Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation. The annual $100,000 award honors artists and others for “socially responsible work” and challenges to authority...
Nominations
- 2004 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book of a Musical – Caroline, or Change
- 2004 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical – Caroline, or Change
- 2004 Tony Award for Best Original Score – Caroline, or Change
- 2005 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay – MunichMunich (film)Munich is a 2005 historical fiction film about the Israeli government's secret retaliation attacks after the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Black September terrorist group during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film stars Eric Bana and was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg...
- 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay – MunichMunich (film)Munich is a 2005 historical fiction film about the Israeli government's secret retaliation attacks after the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Black September terrorist group during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film stars Eric Bana and was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg...
Other
- Evening Standard Award
- OBIE
- New York Drama Critics Circle Award
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Award
- Whiting Writers Fellowship
- Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fellowship
- National Foundation of Jewish Culture, Cultural Achievement award
Further reading
- Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale (Detroit), Volume 81, 1994.
- Bloom, Harold, ed., Tony Kushner, New York, Chelsea House, 2005.
- Brask, Anne, ed., "Ride on the Moon", Chicago, Randomhouse, 1990.
- Brask, Per K., ed., Essays on Kushner’s Angels, Winnipeg, Blizzard Publishing, 1995.
- Dickinson, Peter, "Travels With Tony Kushner and David Beckham, 2002-2004", in Theatre Journal, 57.3, 2005, pp. 229–50
- Fisher, James, The Theater of Tony Kushner, London, Routledge, 2002.
- Fisher, James, ed., Tony Kushner. New Essays on the Art and Politics of His Plays, London, McFarland & Company, 2006.
- Geis, Deborah R., and Steven F. Kruger, Approaching the Millennium: Essays on Angels in America, University of Michigan Press, 1997.
- Klüßendorf, Ricarda, "The Great Work Begins". Tony Kushner's Theater for Change in America, Trier, WVT, 2007.
- Lioi, Anthony, "The Great Work Begins: Theater as Theurgy in Angels in America", in CrossCurrents, Fall 2004, Vol. 54, No 3
- Solty, Ingar, "Tony Kushners amerikanischer Engel der Geschichte", in Das Argument 265, 2/2006, pp. 209–24 http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/pdf/2006confpapers/papers/Solty.pdf
External links
- Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner documentary film website, and associated website at PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
POV - Biography at the Steven Barclay Agency
Interviews
- Writing the Playwright, interview by Frederic Tuten, Guernicamag.com, June 2005
- Interview with Tony Kushner, Craig Young, AfterElton.com, October 12, 2006
- Of angels and agnostics, Steve Dow, SteveDow.com.au, undated