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Tony Kushner is Subject of New Documentary Film

By: Aug. 11, 2006
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Backstage reports that a new documentary will explore the life and career of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner.

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Kushner, whose adaptation of Brecht's Mother Courage is currently featured in the starry Shakespeare in the Park  production that opens on August 21st, is the subject of Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner.  Balcony Releasing will open the film in US theaters this fall.  The documentary is directed and produced by Frieda Lee Mock (Sing!, Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision).  Terry Sanders will serve as executive producer on Wrestling with Angels, which is an American Film Foundation production.

"Angels covers what Kushner called 'one of the wildest periods of my life.'  Beginning with the 2001 production of his play Homebody/Kabul to his 2004 work on John Kerry's presidential campaign, the film explores Kushner's private and artistic life, including his same-sex wedding, work on two books involving artist Maurice Sendak, an opera and a Broadway musical, Caroline, or Change," according to the article. 

"I thought, 'I'm going to gain weight, or I'm going to scream at an actor, and it will all end up on film...But I said yes because I love Freida, her movies, and having her in my life. She was kind of like a guardian angel," said Kushner.

The works of Tony Kushner are known for a blend of intellectual depth and sharp humor, as well as for their politically-engaged themes.  His Angels in America: Millennium Approaches won the 1993 Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, while its follow-up Angels in America: Perestroika won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Play.  He received Tony nominations for his book and lyrics for the musical Caroline, or Change, which he penned with Jeanine Tesori (with whom he also has collaborated on Mother Courage).  Other works include Homebody/Kabul, A Bright Room Called Day and Brundibar, a family-friendly opera on which he collaborated with Maurice Sendak and which was recently seen Off-Broadway.  He also co-penned the screenplay of the Steven Speilberg film Munich; he received an Oscar nomination for doing so.





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