CONWAY, Ark. (March 15, 2018) – In a profile of Tony Kushner in the New Yorker, John Lahr said Kushner “gives voice to characters who have been rendered powerless by the forces of circumstances—a drag queen dying of AIDS, an uneducated Southern maid, contemporary Afghans—and his attempt to see all sides of their predicament has a sly subversiveness. He forces the audience to identify with the marginalized—a humanizing act of the imagination.”
Playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner will visit Hendrix College on April 10, 2018. That evening, at 7:30 p.m. in Staples Auditorium, he will be interviewed on stage by Dr. Jay Barth, Hendrix professor of politics, in “A Conversation with Tony Kushner.” This event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception and book signing in Mills Lobby and Library.
Best known for his two-part epic Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Kushner is also the author of A Bright Room Called Day, Homebody/Kabul, and Caroline, or Change, among other works. He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols’ film of Angels in America and Steven Spielberg’s Munich. In 2012, his screenplay for Spielberg’s Lincoln was nominated for an Academy Award and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award, among others.
The new, updated edition of
his Angels in America is published
with the author’s recent changes and a new introduction in celebration of the
twentieth anniversary of its original production. One of the most honored
American plays in history, Angels in
America was awarded two Tony Awards for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize
for Drama. It was made into an Emmy Award-winning HBO film directed by Mike
Nichols. This two-part epic, subtitled “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” has
received hundreds of performances worldwide in more than 26 languages.
In addition to these awards,
Kushner is also the recipient of an Emmy Award, three Obie Awards, and a
Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre Award, and he received a National
Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013.
His recent work includes a
collection of one-act plays entitled Tiny
Kushner and The Intelligent
Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.
Kushner is currently working with Steven Spielberg again—this time on a film
remake of the 1961 movie West Side Story.
Kushner has written the script and the film is now in the casting process.
This event is sponsored by
the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language, which are
designed to enhance and enrich the study and teaching of literature and language
at Hendrix College. For more information about this and future events, please
contact Henryetta Vanaman, 501-450-4597 or vanaman@hendrix.edu.
About
Hendrix College
A private liberal arts
college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as
one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That
Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.