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Tony Kushner

トニー・クシュナー

Tony Kushner

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1956-07-16 （Manhattan, New York City, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Judaism
Residence History
Lake Charles, Louisiana → New York City (Manhattan)

Career

Occupations
playwright, author, screenwriter
Active Years
1978-2025
Memberships
American Philosophical Society
Influenced By
Bertolt Brecht, Pierre Corneille, S. Ansky
Influenced
Contemporary American playwrights
Nominations
Academy Award nominations (screenwriting/producing) — Munich, Lincoln, West Side Story, The Fabelmans, etc., Grammy nomination (Best Musical Theater Album) — Caroline, or Change (2021 revival)

Education

Columbia University
Medieval Studies
Degree: BA
Period: 1974–1978
Year of Graduation: 1978
Country: United States
Undergraduate degree in Medieval Studies
New York University (Tisch School of the Arts)
Theatre / Graduate program
Degree: MFA
Period: 1980s（在学期間の詳細不明）
Year of Graduation: 1984
Country: United States
Received an MFA from Tisch

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Drama
1993
Work: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Tony Award for Best Play
1993
Work: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
Category: Best Play
Organization: Tony Awards
Result: 受賞
Tony Award for Best Play
1994
Work: Angels in America: Perestroika
Category: Best Play
Organization: Tony Awards
Result: 受賞
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Movie
2004
Work: Angels in America (HBO miniseries teleplay)
Organization: Emmy Awards (Academy of Television Arts & Sciences)
Result: 受賞
National Medal of Arts
2013
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts / White House
Result: 受賞
PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award
2002
Category: 中堅劇作家賞（mid-career）
Organization: PEN / Laura Pels Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Angels in America: Millennium Approaches

1991 Play / Drama (epic)

The first part of Kushner's two-part epic about the AIDS crisis and Reagan-era America. Blends fantastical elements with political and personal themes in a sprawling drama.

AIDSpolitics and ideologysexuality and identityJewishness and history
Adaptations
  • [Television (miniseries)] Angels in America (HBO miniseries) / Mike Nichols (2003)
Translations
  • Available in translation (see editions for translators and Japanese titles)

Angels in America: Perestroika

1992 Play / Drama (epic)

The second part of Angels in America, furthering characters' arcs and exploring transformation, loss, and redemption in American society.

transformationredemption and losshistory and the individual

Caroline, or Change (book and lyrics)

2003 Musical (book/lyrics)

A musical set in the 1960s about a woman confronting race, class, and change; combines music and theatre in a character-driven piece.

racesocial changepersonal dignity

Munich (screenplay, co-written)

2005 Film (historical / political thriller)

Screenplay for Spielberg's film about the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics tragedy; deals with political conflict and moral ambiguity.

revenge and ethicspolitical decision-making

Lincoln (screenplay)

2012 Film (historical drama)

Screenplay for Spielberg's film about Abraham Lincoln's final months and the political struggle to pass the Thirteenth Amendment.

political historymorality and leadership

Bibliography

  • Plays by Tony Kushner (collected plays, 1999)
  • Thinking about the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness (essays, 1995)
  • Brundibár (illustrated edition, 2003)
  • A Meditation from Angels in America (1994)

Adaptations

  • Angels in America — HBO miniseries (2003)
  • West Side Story — 2021 film (screenplay)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
epic theatre addressing political and social themesmixing of fantastical and realistic elementsdense, discursive dialogue
Recurring Motifs
illness and loss (notably AIDS)history and memoryidentity and communityJewishness and religious questioning

Legacy

Tony Kushner is one of the leading American playwrights since the 1990s, acclaimed for addressing political and social issues in large-scale works. He has also succeeded in film and television screenwriting and has significantly influenced contemporary playwrights and screenwriters.

Academic Societies

  • American Philosophical Society

Quotes

  • At least I never voted Republican.
    Source: Six-word memoir (quoted in collections/interviews) (2010)

Trivia

  • Angels in America won the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Awards.
  • He won a Primetime Emmy for the Angels in America HBO miniseries teleplay.
  • By 2023 he became one of the few writers nominated for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards (EGOT nominations).
  • He has received multiple honorary doctorates from various universities.