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Tony Kushner Collection |
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GUIDE TO THE COLLECTION Collection Title: Tony Kushner Collection Accession Number: 090 Biographical Notes Tony Kushner was born in Manhattan and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the son of professional musicians. He felt a kinship with theatre early on when he saw his mother perform as Linda Loman in "Death of a Salesman." In the mid-70s, he moved to New York to attend Columbia University where he studied medieval art, literature and philosophy and explored the experimental works of directors such as Richard Foreman, JoAnne Akalaitis and Charles Ludlam. After graduation, he went on to complete graduate studies at New York University for an MFA in directing. His plays include "A Bright Room Called Day;" an adaptation of Corneille's "The Illusion;" "Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches and Part 2: Perestroika;" "SLAVS!, or Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness;" and "The Dybbuk." His work has been produced at theatres around the United States, including on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Hartford Stage. "Angels in America" has also been produced internationally at theatres in over 30 countries including England, France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Iceland, and Austria. With "Angels in America," Kushner brings together his studies in Brecht's political theatre and the narrative tradition of Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams. This unique hybrid spanning heaven and earth and mixing the metaphysical and the mundane is what the playwrights call Theatre of the Fabulous. "Angels in America" has received virtually every theatre accolade available including the 1993 Pulitzer for Drama, the 1993 and 1994 Tony Awards for Best Play (unprecedented in the history of the Tonys), the 1993 and 1994 Drama Desk Awards, the 1992 London Evening Standard Award, two Olivier Award nominations for Best Play of 1993 and 1994, the 1993 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the 1993 Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award, and the 1993 Lambda Literary Award for drama, among others. Mr. Kushner is the recipient of grants from the New York Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, a 1990 Whiting Foundation Writer's Award, and an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among others. He lives in Manhattan. (From Encore! Spring 1995) Playwright Tony Kushner began his career with a play written in Latin for Gloria Wegener's Latin Club at Lake Charles High School. In spite of the fact that the play won a prize at State Rally, he decided to switch to English, and his subsequent efforts have not been without success. A graduate of Columbia University with a degree in medieval studies and of New York University with a degree in theater, his honors have included the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the 1993 and 1994 Tony awards for Best Broadway Play, the first time in the history of Broadway that a playwright has won for two consecutive years. Tony lives in New York City. He is presently working on a new play, and teaching a graduate course in play writing at New York University. (From Lake Charles Symphony Program 1995-1996 Season) Tony Kushner, the son of William and the late Sylvia Kushner was born in New York but graduated from Lake Charles High School. He took part in the Governor's Program for Gifted Children at McNeese. He graduated from Columbia University and New York University, and was playwright in residence at Juilliard. (From Lake Charles American Press April 14, 1993) Container List Box 1 1. THE NEW YORKER, Nov. 30, 1992 (59-64). Box 2 1. VOGUE, Nov. 1992 (158-165). |
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