Born On This Day- July 16th... Playwright Tony Kushner

Tony Kushner is the stunningly talented playwright most famous for his award winning play- Angels in America. He was born in Manhattan, but his parents, William & Sylvia Kushner, both classically trained musicians, moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana shortly after his birth. Kushner moved to New York in 1974 to study at Columbia University, where he received a B.A. in English literature in 1978. He graduated with a degree in directing from New York University's Graduate School in 1984.

 In April 2003 Kushner & his long-time partner- magazine editor Mark Harris, were married in a ceremony in New York.

I find Angels In America to be the most important play of my generation. This is a play about Jews & Mormons, gays & straights, New York & Antarctica, the ozone, Ethel Rosenberg, AIDS, African-Americans, Reagan Republicans, Cats, angels, & Roy Cohn. It is a play that isn’t afraid to take on the issues of this world & the next world. It contains a wicked sense of humor & absolutely thrilling dialogue. Tony Kushner won a Pulitzer Prize & 2 Tony awards for this monumental piece of theatre. It is being revivied on Broadway this fall.

Kushner received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for Munich directed by Steven Spielberg. He has written several other plays & translations & he won a Tony each for the book & lyrics of the musical- Caroline, Or Change. He is doing a screenplay on the life of Abraham Lincoln. Kushner was the subject of the 2006 documentary feature -Wrestling With Angels which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.


The film version of Angels In America is on my all time 10 best list. It won a record breaking 11 Emmys, 4 SAG Awards & 5 Golden Globes. Directed by Mike Nichols, & featuring the embarrassment of riches of a cast headed by Al Pacino as Roy Cohn, Meryl Streep & Emma Thompson in multiple roles, Patrick Wilson, Mary-Louise Parker, Justin Kirk, Jeffery Wright, Ben Shenkman, Simon Callow, James Cromwell, Michael Gambon & Tony Kushner himself.. The film is brutal, very funny, political, passionate & deeply moving. After viewing the film of Angels In America, I was incapacitated for a day. I find every element of the production to be jaw dropping amazing.