Guthrie Theater

March 19, 2008
Press Release #1236               

For more information call:
Melodie Bahan 612.225.6140
melodieb@guthrietheater.org
Lee Henderson 612.225.6142
leeh@guthrietheater.org

GUTHRIE TO CELEBRATE WORK OF TONY KUSHNER

WITH THREE PRODUCTIONS IN 2008-09 SEASON

Special event series and partnership with the University of Minnesota to honor and explore the work of this Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Director Joe Dowling today announced that the Guthrie Theater will celebrate the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner in a landmark series set for the spring of 2009. In addition to presenting the previously announced Guthrie commission, tentatively titled The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, Dowling also announced plans for productions of Caroline, or Change on the Wurtele Thrust Stage and a collection of Kushner's short plays in the Dowling Studio as part of the upcoming 2008-09 Season. These three simultaneous productions will join a series of speakers, scholars and other special events designed to fully examine and celebrate Kushner's body of work.

 "Tony is one of the most important voices in American theater today and it's appropriate and exciting to be able to devote the Guthrie's talent and resources to producing three of his plays simultaneously," Dowling said. "We're particularly pleased to be able to complement the productions with a series of events that will provide insight into Tony's work."

"The Guthrie is truly legendary, one of the cradles of the serious residential theater movement that revolutionized American drama," Kushner said.  "And the new building is what theaters look like in Heaven.  I'd be thrilled and honored to have just one play on at the Guthrie, but three?  I'm triply thrilled and honored!"

At the heart of the activities surrounding the three core productions is a unique collaboration between the Guthrie and the University of Minnesota, which will offer a spring-semester course focusing on the work of Kushner. The Guthrie and the University will also collaborate to compile and make accessible to the public a collection featuring original manuscripts by Kushner, set and costume designs, models, photographs and videos from his past productions. During this same period, the University Theatre will present a production of Kushner's 1985 play, A Bright Room Called Day. In addition to the University-based programs, the Guthrie will host a full calendar of pre- and post-play discussions, Inside Look workshops, Saturday morning gatherings featuring local artists and University faculty, major speaking engagements and a series of other education and outreach programs.

This line-up of special events is designed to present to the local, national and international community with opportunities to expand and enhance their understanding of and appreciation for the many issues raised in Kushner's work. A full listing of these activities, along with all associated registration information, will be available later this fall.

Production and ticket information for the Tony Kushner celebration will be announced March 24, alongside the other productions included in 2008-09 Season.

About Tony Kushner

Born in New York City in 1956, and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Tony Kushner is best known for his two-part epic, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. His other plays include A Bright Room Called Day; Slavs!; Hydrotaphia; Homebody/Kabul; and Caroline or Change, the musical for which he wrote book and lyrics, with music by composer Jeanine Tesori. Kushner has translated and adapted Pierre Corneille's The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan and Mother Courage and Her Children; and the English-language libretto for the children's opera Brundibár by Hans Krasa. He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols' film of Angels In America, and Steven Spielberg's Munich. His books include Brundibar, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present; and Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict, co-edited with Alisa Solomon.

Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an Emmy Award, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, an Oscar nomination, an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the PEN/Laura Pels Award for a Mid-Career Playwright, a Spirit of Justice Award from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and a Cultural Achievement Award from The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, among many others. Most recently, Caroline or Change, produced in the autumn of 2006 at the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, received the Evening Standard Award, the London Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Olivier Award for Best Musical. He is the subject of a documentary film, Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner, made by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock. He is currently working on a screenplay about Abraham Lincoln. He lives in Manhattan with his husband, Mark Harris.

About the Guthrie

The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened their new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit http://www.guthrietheater.org/.

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