tony
KUSHNER PLAYWRIGHT AND SCREENWRITER
by Kerri Cooke Although nationally acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner was born in Manhattan in 1956, he spent much of his childhood in Lake Charles. His father William served as conductor with the Lake Charles Symphany for 40 years. Kushner’s mother, Sylvia, taught at McNeese State University and starred in productions with both the Lake Charles Little Theatre and ACTS Theatre. Kushner says seeing his mother perform “intense, dramatic roles” from a young age spawned his interest in theatre. Kushner fondly reflects on his bucolic childhood in Lake Charles. Even though he was both Jewish and gay, Kushner says there was a general attitude of laissez-faire in SWLA. “My parents told me that if anyone had a problem with us being Jewish it was their problem not ours.” Kushner also recalls how school integration began during his first year at Lake Charles High. Kushner returned to New York to attend Columbia University. He attended the theatre regularly. Kushner says, “I was fascinated with it as an art form. I began to wonder if I had what it takes to be a playwright.” He graduated with a bachelor's degree in medieval studies in 1978 and was awarded his master’s degree from NYU in 1984 in theatre directing. Kushner’s big break came when he wrote Angels in America, a two-part play on the AIDS epidemic. The play saw immediate success when the first part premiered at Eureka Theatre in 1991 in San Francisco. The second part was completed and staged the following year, and Angels in America was shown on Broadway. The play would win Kushner a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize. Angels in America was followed by other works including Slavs! in 1994; Homebody/Kabul in 1999; and Caroline, or Change in 2004, which takes place in Louisiana during the Civil Rights Movement. The play has been performed locally by both the McNeese theatre department and ACTS Theatre. Kushner is also well-known for his screenplays, working closely with Steven Spielberg. He collaborated on the script for Munich in 2005; wrote Lincoln, which premiered in 2012 and won a New York Film Critics Circle Award, a Boston Society of Film Critics Award, and a Chicago Film Critics Award; and adapted West Side Story for the 2021 movie. Kushner and Spielberg co-wrote The Fabelmans in 2022, which received a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars in 2023. He also adapted his play Angels in America for the 2003 HBO series of the same name. “Playwrighting and screenwriting are two completely different processes,” Kushner says. “When I write a play, I own the copyright. I’m paid to write a screenplay. I don’t own it. A screenplay isn’t a thing unto itself. I give it my best shot and it will continue to change. A production of a play opens and closes. The play is still there, and you still own it. It’s still out there in the world. Each production is a different interpretation. With theatre you’re seeing something that will only happen that night. It’s less reliable, a little scarier. You don’t quite know what’s going to happen. It’s a very, very human experience.” Kushner often explores the impact of loss and change on a person’s psyche. Kushner extols the benefit of exploring the world saying, “The larger the concentration of people, the larger the metropolitan area, the more heterogeneous the population—cultural, ethnically, and politically… you learn more and grow in a cosmopolitan setting. It’s important not to be afraid of other places or other people, or other.” Kushner has won a plethora of awards and was presented with a National Medal of Arts Award in 2012 by President Obama.
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