Rand Lecture: Oskar Eustis
Tony Kushner wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America, but it’s safe to say that without Oskar Eustis, he might not have put pen to paper.
The two men are long-time collaborators, and their most famous joint effort has its roots in the early 1990s, when Eustis commissioned Kushner to write the work that eventually became Angels in America. Kushner created the characters with Eustis’ Eureka company in mind, and the piece first appeared onstage under Eustis’s direction at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
The UMass Amherst Department of Theater will mount its own production of the play in April, and in anticipation of that event, the department welcomes Oskar Eustis to the Rand Theater as its 2005 Rand Lecturer.
Eustis will participate in two events. The first, held in the morning in the more intimate Curtain Theater, will be a moderated question and answer session that will offer budding theater artists a chance to learn how he’s approached some of the challenges and opportunities his career has brought him.
In the afternoon, he’ll present the Rand Lecture, a more formal talk held in the larger Rand Theater. In this talk, Eustis will focus on his involvement in the creation of Tony Kushner’s Angels In America.
Both events are free and open to members of the Five Colleges and the community.
“Gaypril” events at UMass Amherst
