Kushner to Give Commencement Spech for SVA Graduation, 5/14

Tony Kushner will be the commencement speaker at the annual graduation ceremony for the New York School of Visual Arts. The Pulitzer Prize winning author will speak to the graduating class on May 14th.

Tony Kushner plays include A Bright Room Called Day; Angels in America, Parts One and Two; Slavs!; Homebody/Kabul and The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures. Adaptations include Corneille's The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk and Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan. The film version of "Angels in America," directed by Mike Nichols, premiered in 2003 on HBO. Recent books include Brundibar (Hyperion Books), a book for children with illustrations by Maurice Sendak, and Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict (Grove Atlantic), co-edited with Alisa Solomon.

Mr. Kushner's awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony Awards for Best Play, two Obie Awards for Best Play, an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the PEN/Laura Pels Award for a Mid-Career Playwright, a Spirit of Justice Award from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders and a Cultural Achievement Award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

SVA offers undergraduate programs in Advertising, Animation, Cartooning, Computer Art, Film & Video, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design, Photography, and Visual and Critical Studies. The undergraduate program is a four-year, full-time Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program with courses offered throughout the day and evening.