Hollywood’s history lesson: What counts when truth gets in the way

By Danielle Berrin
Published on February 19, 2013

Social-cultural youth program to launch in L.A.

By Ryan Torok
Published on December 12, 2012

A new social program for 20- and 30-something Jews is bringing comedian Sarah Silverman, playwright Tony Kushner, New York literary editor Ira Silverberg, and other Jewish artists and cultural leaders all under one tent — metaphorically — in 2013.

The first Jewish president? Lincoln, in the Abrahamic tradition

By Tom Teicholz
Published on November 14, 2012

Abraham Lincoln has been dead for almost 150 years, yet suddenly he’s everywhere. At the Skirball Cultural Center, you can see an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Lincoln, amid an impressive array of founding American documents.

Writer’s Guild to Honor ‘Extremely’ Talented Screenwriter Eric Roth

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on January 26, 2012

The Tony Kushner flap: What does it say about the discourse on Israel in America?

Published on May 10, 2011

It was the latest dustup over what constitutes acceptable discourse in the American Jewish community when it comes to Israel. Except this time the battle wasn’t contained within the community, but began at a university board meeting and spilled over onto the front page of The New York Times. When the dust had settled, the City University of New York had reversed its decision to withhold an honorary degree from the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner over his views on Israel.

Tony Kushner to receive CUNY honorary degree after all

Published on May 10, 2011

Trustees of the City University of New York approved an honorary degree for playwright Tony Kushner, reversing an earlier decision. The executive committee of the CUNY board of trustees voted Monday night to award Kushner an honorary doctorate during commencement ceremonies next month. The committee can reverse decisions of the full board.

CUNY Reverses Kushner Decision

By Rob Eshman
Published on May 9, 2011

After Tony Kushner stumble, CUNY tries to dust itself off

Published on May 9, 2011

Having embarrassed themselves more than was absolutely necessary in the eyes of many New Yorkers, trustees of the City University of New York are gathering Monday evening to undo the damage.

Koch to CUNY: Boot trustee who attacked Kushner

Published on May 6, 2011

Ed Koch call for the City University of New York to terminate its relationship with a trustee who engineered the denial of an honorary degree to Tony Kushner because of the playwright's criticism of Israel.

Kushmet

By Rob Eshman
Published on November 8, 2007

And so, my two favorite playwrights find themselves on opposite sides of a longstanding Jewish divide. "All sound creative art is rooted in a ghetto," the critic Ludwig Lewisohn once wrote. Once out of that ghetto, the roots bifurcate, and we Jews have fashioned two strategies for survival. For the Mamets, salvation lies in toughness and certainty, the People of the Butch. For Kushner, our promise is in compromise and doubt.

UJ’s Levy crafts confab to celebrate authors

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on November 1, 2007

A new bookshelf, overflowing with volumes, testifies to Gady Levy's latest and perhaps most ambitious endeavor: the Celebration of Jewish Books, which begins on Monday and extends through an all-day festival on Sunday. The celebration will offer lectures and signings with 40 authors -- including big names, such as Larry King, Michael Chabon, Kirk Douglas and Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) -- plus music and dance performances, food and a thousand titles for sale, provided by Borders and the Hebrew-language bookseller Steimatzky.

Kushner’s (old) testament to Lincoln

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on October 25, 2007

Interview with playwright Tony Kushner.

7 Days in the Arts

By Keren Engelberg
Published on October 5, 2006

7 days in the Arts

A Kushner Series That Will Offend All

By Sally Ogle Davis
Published on December 4, 2003

After director Mike Nichols took his wife, Diane Sawyer, to the first screening of his six-hour HBO film of Tony Kushner's epoch-defining, "Angels in America." She said, "I know what this is about. It's about being Jewish."

She's right, but it's also about being gay in the latter 20 years of the 20th century. It's about friendship and redemption. It's about the feeling we all have in our darker hours that as a species, we could be on the verge of extinction. It's about the struggle for the soul of America between the right and the left, and it's about so many other things that it's virtually impossible to describe.

Shoah-Era Opera an Allegory of Victory

By Gaby Wenig
Published on December 4, 2003

Today, "Brundibar" is experiencing a revival of sorts. It is the title and story of a new children's book written by Tony Kushner, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak (Hyperion Books for Children), and this weekend, the Jewish Community Foundation and the Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation sponsored Youth Opera Camp of Santa Monica College Conservatory will be performing the opera at the Miles Memorial Playhouse and Simon Wiesenthal Center.