Tony Kushner Talks Left-Wing Mobilization and Election Inspiration with The Village Voice

This week's issue of The Village Voice contains a piece "No Sleep Till 2020" which features the responses of prominent NY artists and activists including Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Tony Kushner, as they plot their next steps following the results of the presidential election.

In the piece, Tony Kushner shares his take on the election, what we can do ahead of 2018 and even shares, "As of yesterday, I think I have a new idea for a play."

"I have a very deeply cherished belief in democracy, and I have seen in my lifetime over and over again that the will of the people when expressed on a national level can sometimes be badly mistaken. On the other hand, we won the popular election, and 2018 is already on the way. We have a lot of work cut out for us. We know what is coming up and the midterms should not take us by surprise. We have to make sure there is no voter suppression. It takes time to make sure people are registered, and have a way to the polls, and don't deal with the polls closing early and changing locations and confusing people.

We need to make sure that people have access and we have to start giving ourselves assignments noW. Maybe we can make a difference that way. I honestly think I do my best work when I hate the president in the White House, but I try to keep my activism such as it is and my writing such as it is - they're distinct. If something that I write makes a difference in some way to a number of people, great. I'm happy about that. I'd like my work to be of value to people. But my job as a playwright is to try to tell the truth as much as I can figure out a way to do it and to entertain. And my job as a citizen is to expand the franchise and protect the democracy and keep the democratic experiment going. As of yesterday, I think I have a new idea for a play. I intend to keep going. I see a lot of really amazing people doing incredible work."