Guthrie Theater

From April 18 through June 28, a company of more than 25 Minneapolis and New York actors came together at the Guthrie to participate in a one-of-a-kind celebration of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner's work, including productions of Caroline, or Change, the world premiere Guthrie commission The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, and an evening of short plays dubbed Tiny Kushner. With the stunning success of the Kushner Celebration, in mainstream media, blogs and social networking sites like Twitter; in coffee shops, restaurants and gatherings throughout the Twin Cities; and in the Guthrie's lobbies, bars and box office lines, everyone was talking Kushner. David Savran reports on the celebration in this month's issue of American Theatre.

Michelle Obama hosted a concert this morning at the Pittsburgh Creative & Performing Arts School for its students and the spouses of international leaders deliberating at the G-20 economic summit.  She gave an 11-minute address about the arts as a prelude to performances by guests Sara Bareilles, Yo-Yo Ma and Trisha Yearwood. Here are  excerpts from her speech, from a transcript issued by the White House:

Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, in a highly acclaimed production by Marianne Elliott, will be filmed live at the National Theatre in London and broadcast by satellite to cinemas worldwide. The production is the second play in the pilot season of NT Live, the National's ground-breaking initiative which launched in June with the hugely successful broadcast of Phèdre with Helen Mirren, which was seen by 50,000 people in 19 countries around the globe.

Two events occurring at the Guthrie Theater might seem to have little connection: our current production of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and a reading of "The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later." But the connection is profound. The death of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998 is a brutal reminder that the bigotry, hatred and prejudice that brought Wilde down still exist in our world.