Tony Kushner News

Just last night, Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, the annual benefit concert of the New York Civil Liberties Union (the state-affiliate of the ACLU), was presented at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts. BroadwayWorld was there for the concert and we bring you photos from the event below!

Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, the annual benefit concert of the New York Civil Liberties Union (the state-affiliate of the ACLU), will be presented tonight, July 23 at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts.

Looking for a quick roundup of this week's events in the theatre world? Look no further - here are some of the best articles the week had to offer!

Ultimísimo tramo de la recta final de Follies en el Teatro Español. Dos únicas funciones para llegar a la gran (y doble) despedida. La última representación del musical, que se celebrará el próximo sábado, será el punto culminante, definitivo y definitorio, de la era de Mario Gas como máximo responsable artístico de las cuatro salas en las que se enmarca la sede cultural. Nadie dudaba del talento de los nombres que acreditan el espectáculo.

DreamWorks Pictures has announced a release date today for Steven Spielberg's highly-anticipated film LINCOLN. The film will be released in limited theaters on November 9 before expanding wider on November 16.

Happy Birthday Tony Kushner! Kushner's best known work is Angels in America, a seven-hour epic about the AIDS epidemic in Reagan-era New York, which was later adapted into a miniseries for which Kushner wrote the screenplay. His other plays include Hydriotaphia, Slavs!: Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness, A Bright Room Called Day, Homebody/Kabul, and the book for the musical Caroline, or Change. His new translation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children was performed at the Delacorte Theater in the summer of 2006 starring Meryl Streep and directed by George C. Wolfe. Kushner has also adapted Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan, Corneille's The Illusion, and S. Ansky's play The Dybbuk.

The New York Civil Liberties Union (the New York State affiliate of the ACLU) today announced additional casting for its annual benefit concert, Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, on Monday, July 23.

Sound Theatre Company brings award-winning playwright Tony Kushner's adaptation of THE ILLUSION to the Center Theatre this August. In Pierre Corneille's 17th century tale, a father seeks the dark arts of a magician in a cave to learn about the travails of his estranged son, when he is thrust into a fantastical journey that challenges his assumptions about love, life, and reality.

As one of the main City of Science 2012 events, Dublin will host a special performance of the winning play of the STAGE International Script Competition for the best new play about science and technology.

The Glimmerglass Festival, the Central New York summer opera and musical theater company, has announced its 2013 season and its partnership in The Festival of American Romantics in Cooperstown, New York.

Additional performers have been announced for Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, the annual benefit concert of the New York Civil Liberties Union (the state-affiliate of the ACLU), which will be presented Monday, July 23 at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts.

Variety reports that that Marcia Gay Harden will play the title role in Juan Feldman's indie drama film THE LIBRARIAN.

For its 2012-13 season, the school spotlights timeless works from master playwrights and performances from emerging stage talents.

he Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced that the Fifth Annual Steinberg Playwright "Mimi" Awards will be presented on Monday, October 29, 2012. The Mimi Awards promote theater as a vital part of our culture by nurturing American playwrights and encouraging the development and production of new American plays. The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust will present the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award at this year's ceremony, which will be held at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. The Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award is presented biennially to honor and encourage the artistic excellence and achievement of an American playwright whose body of work has made significant contributions to the American theater. The recipient of the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award will receive a cash award of $200,000. The Steinberg Playwright Awards and the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Awards are presented in alternate years. Past recipients are: · Lisa D'Amour and Melissa James Gibson, Steinberg Playwright Award, 2011 · Lynn Nottage, Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, 2010 · David Adjmi, Tarell Alvin McCraney and Bruce Norris, Steinberg Playwright Awards, 2009 · Tony Kushner, Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, 2008 These playwrights were each presented with a monetary award along with "The Mimi," a statuette designed by Tony Award-nominated scenic designer and architect David Rockwell. The Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award honors the artistic achievement of a playwright whose work has made a significant impact on American theater. The Steinberg Playwright Award is awarded to playwrights who exhibit exceptional talent and tremendous promise in earlier stages of their careers. In 2008, the Board of Directors of The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust established an Advisory Committee of prominent theater professionals responsible for establishing the criteria for the Steinberg Playwright Awards, as well as the nomination and selection processes. The 2012 Advisory Committee is comprised of continuing members; Susan Booth, Artistic Director of the Alliance Theater; Jeremy Cohen, Producing Artistic Director, The Playwrights' Center; Todd London, Artistic Director of New Dramatists; and Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, Manhattan Theater Club. Additionally, this year there are three new members; Kwame Kwei-Armah, Artistic Director, CENTERSTAGE; Bill Rauch, Artistic Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and Neil Pepe, Artistic Director, Atlantic Theater Company. The members of the Board of Directors of The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust are Carole A. Krumland, James D. Steinberg, Michael A. Steinberg, Seth M. Weingarten and William D. Zabel. About The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust: The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust was created by Harold Steinberg in 1986 in the names of himself and his late wife Miriam. The Trust's primary mission is to support and promote the American theater as a vital part of our culture by nurturing American playwrights, encouraging the development and production of new American plays, and by providing significant support to theater companies across the country. Since its inception, the Trust has given in excess of $65 million to more than one hundred not-for-profit theater organizations. These gifts have funded countless productions, as well as the commissioning of playwrights, playwriting programs and arts-in-education outreach programs for thousands of children in an effort to create and educated new generations of theatergoers. The Trust also collaborated with the American Theater Critics Association to create and fund the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. The award is presented annually during the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theater of Louisville. Recent winners of this award include Craig Lucas, Lynn Nottage, Lee Blessing and Nilo Cruz.

Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner is a powerhouse theatrical event that garnered numerous prestigious awards including a Drama Desk award for Best Play, a Tony® Award for Best Play and the Pultizer® Prize for Drama. This epic work tackles a melting pot of social issues through the intertwined lives of several New Yorkers in 1985.

Tony Kushner and Annie Leibovitz photograph and interview the team behind Delacorte Theater's Shakespeare in the Park and some of its biggest stars, including James Earl Jones, Oscar Eustis, Audra McDonald, Blythe Danner, Kevin Kline, Mandy Pantinkin, Jonathan Groff, Tyler Ferguson and more! Watch the Vanity Fair video feature here.