Playwright Tony Kushner visits UMass Amherst

TONY KUSHNER, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America and the screenplay to Steven Spielberg's Munich, visited UMass Amherst on October 9, 2007.
A new documentary film about Kushner was also shown on October 2, 2007.
Information about both events can be found on this Web page...


THE RAND LECTURE for 2007-2008
Co-presented by the Theater Department,
Stonewall Center, and Office of Jewish Affairs...

IN CONVERSATION WITH TONY KUSHNER

Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Rand Theater, Fine Arts Center
UMass Amherst

One of the most highly-regarded, and highly-awarded, American playwrights of the last 25 years visited UMass Amherst last fall: Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America, Homebody/Kabul and Caroline, or Change, delivered the Theater Department's 2007-2008 Rand Lecture on October 9, 2007, to a packed house of more than 600 students and community members.

In addition to a Pulitzer for the two-part Angels in America, Kushner has received an Emmy Award, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, and an Oscar nomination.

Kushner's visit was made possible through the generosity
of Margarita Hopkins Rand, who, in her will, left the Theater Department funds to provide “entertaining and articulate
lectures of interest to students in the Humanities.”

The 2007-2008 Rand Lecture was co-presented by the Theater Department, the Stonewall Center, and
the Office of Jewish Affairs.

Additional funding provided by the Student Affairs Cultural Enrichment Fund,
the Jewish Arts & Culture Initiative of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation,
and the UMass Arts Council.


Related program...

Film: Wrestling With Angels
A feature-length documentary about the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007
School of Management, Flavin Family Auditorium
UMass Amherst

A Jewish homosexual raised in the heart of the Deep South, Kushner has become a compassionate voice for outsiders in a climate of repression and censorship

Wrestling with Angels covers three years of Kushner's life from 9/11 to the 2004 presidential election, capturing the fierce moral responsibility that pervades this passionate artist's work. Director Freida Lee Mock's film interweaves interviews with leading theater artists and personal moments from Kushner's life with scenes from his plays.

The film touches on several plays including Caroline, or Change. which explores the relationship between a Southern Jewish family and their African American maid; Homebody/Kabul, an extraordinarily prescient exploration of the social and political chaos in Afghanistan, written before 9/11; Brundibar, a collaboration with Maurice Sendak, for which Kushner wrote new lyrics to a 1930s opera which had been used by the Nazis in their propaganda efforts; and of course the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America.

Tony Kushner's talk on October 9, 2007 [details at the top of this page] was a rare public appearance for the iconic playwright, who discussed the process and impact of his writing on American politics and society, AIDS, the Middle East, and a variety of other subjects in a dialogue with UMass theater professor and dramaturg Paul Walsh. Audience members also had an opportunity to ask questions.

Kushner is best known for his landmark play on the politics of AIDS, Angels in America, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 [specifically for Part 2: Millenium Approaches].

Plays...
His other plays include Homebody/Kabul; Caroline, or Change (which was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Musical); new lyrics to the 1930s opera Brundibar, (a collaboration with Maurice Sendak); and a new translation of Bertold Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children.

Screenplays...
Kushner co-wrote (with Eric Roth) the screenplay to Steven Spielberg's controversial film Munich (2005), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He is currently working on the screenplay for another Spielberg film, Lincoln (scheduled for release in 2009).

Kushner also wrote the screenplay for the 2003 television adaptation of Angels in America, for which he won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special." In addition to Kushner's award, the television series garnered 10 other Emmys and 5 Golden Globe Awards (including "Best Miniseries"), to name but a few of its many honors.

Books...
He also co-edited a volume of essays (with Alisa Solomon) exploring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

His outspoken views on a variety of social and political issues have often placed Kushner at the center of controversy, most recently in the spring of 2006 when Brandeis University announced it would award Kushner an honorary doctorate. Some Jewish organizations protested, but Brandeis, a historically-Jewish university, went ahead with the award.

Last year's Rand Lecture featured playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
(for her play Topdog/Underdog).



For more information:

Detailed biography of Tony Kushner

Wikipedia

Interview with Salon.com: "Coming out as a socialist"


                                         [top of page]

© 2006-2008 University of Massachusetts Amherst. Site Policies. This site is maintained by the Office of Jewish Affairs.