Tony Kushner 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.
Tony Kushner's other plays include A Bright Room Called Day;
Hydriotaphia, or The Death of Dr. Brown; The Illusion, adapted from
the play by Pierre Corneille; Slavs!; Homebody/Kabul; Caroline, or
Change, a musical with composer Jeanine Tesori; The Intelligent
Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the
Scriptures; and The Visit, adapted from the play by Friedrich
Dürrenmatt.
His translations include S. Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk; Bertolt Brecht's
The Good Person of Sezuan and Mother Courage and Her Children; and
the libretto for Hans Krása and Adolf Hoffmeister's Brundibár, a
children's opera for which he wrote a curtain-raiser, But the
Giraffe!
He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols's film of Angels in
America and for Steven Spielberg's Munich and Lincoln.
His books include The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present;
Brundibar, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; and Wrestling with
Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, co-edited with Alisa Solomon.
Among many honours, Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize,
two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an
Olivier Award, an Emmy Award, two Oscar nominations, and the
Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. He is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he was awarded a
National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.
'The finest drama of our time, speaking to us of an entire era of
life and death as no other play within memory. In its sweep and
imagination, it defines the collapse of a moral universe during the
Reagan years in an unforgettable way, transcending its specific
time in the richness of its portrait of an America Lost, perhaps to
be regained... It's a pretty funny play, too. How we still need it!
It ranks as nothing less than one of the greatest plays of the
twentieth century'
*New York Observer*
'A true theatrical epic… Kushner’s writing dazzles. Its sheer
imaginative reach can be exhilarating and it’s studded with
devilish humour. Instead of appearing dated, it seems pointedly
topical in its scrutiny of intolerance, immigration, religious
values and national ideals'
*Evening Standard*
'A start-to-finish sensation… the core themes, about the price paid
for denial, and the cost of change and acceptance, the end-times
sense of foreboding many feel about the state of the planet too,
still pulse with urgency; the emotions sear afresh'
*Telegraph*
'The scope and vision are enough to make you gasp and cheer… seeing
it now is like a vigorously entertaining history lesson. It is a
reminder of just how terrifying and tragic the times were, of all
the people who died terribly and needlessly, but also a vibrant
hymn to the ragged soul of humanity itself, in all its messy,
complicated imperfection… Kushner's achievement is to make his
characters so compelling that the massive themes he pins around
them - the relationship between man and God, the power of the
numinous, the root of good and moral in a shifting, dangerous
world, the role of progress and change – sit comfortably alongside
the unfolding of their stories'
*WhatsOnStage*
'Epic in every conceivable sense of the word… though valuable as an
evocative history play, Kushner's work is still a powerful call to
arms. The challenges of progress, immigration and integration,
prejudice, global warming, and religious and national identity are
still urgent topics, here often brilliantly and waspishly
articulated... a monumental achievement'
*Broadway World*
'Big on ideas, ambition and scope… it liberatingly plays with form:
conventional scenes of domestic realism defiantly throw off those
shackles with abandon to enter hallucinatory realms of fantasy,
mystery and mysticism… where once it might have been stating
radical positions, Angels in America now plays like a raw, truthful
documentary of where we've come from, and serves as a necessary
reminder of those bleak times before AIDS became a treatable
disease'
*The Stage*
'Both a document of the Aids crisis and an enduringly relevant
commentary on US politics… what really hits one is the
expansiveness of Kushner’s imagination and the rich opportunities
he creates for actors'
*Guardian*
'Probably the great American play of the late 20th century'
*Time Out*
'One of the greatest achievements in American theatre during the
twentieth century… epic in every sense of the word… a
once-in-a-lifetime experience that should not be missed'
*British Theatre Guide*
'An astonishing piece of theatre, madly inventive and driven by
deep compassion… the portrait of a fractured America feels no less
resonant today; the inquiry into where true progress lies feels no
less urgent… the play’s themes emerge through a kaleidoscope of
richly varied characters, all wrestling with their own angels and
demons'
*Financial Times*
'This revival confirms its place in the pantheon of dramas that
stretch toward the heavens. In the case of Angels in America, the
sky is not the limit, and no work of theater since has quite
matched its reach… [has] a boundless imagination and a moral rage
that roam, at length and at large, where few playwrights have dared
to tread… the climate of fear and anger Mr. Kushner summoned feels,
if anything, even more pervasive today than it did when Angels
first opened… Mr. Kushner's words [have] a Shavian wit and ferocity
rooted in the most visceral of feelings... the heroes of Angels are
human. This still-singular play fans their anger, confusion and
hopefulness into a flame of genuine divinity'
*New York Times*
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