Playwright Tony Kushner Set for Q&A at Ridgefield Playhouse, 11/14

The prolific screenwriter who wrote Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln will share his outspoken views on Thursday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m., at The Ridgefield Playhouse. It will be possible to "sit and chat" with Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar nominated screenwriter and author of Angels in America and Caroline, or Change when he shares his outspoken views on "taboo" subjects in contemporary history. This evening of entertaining conversation and mesmerizing storytelling will take place on stage at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Thursday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m. hosted by Emmy award-winning journalist Morton Dean who will lead an audience Q&A. This event is part of the Moffly Media Entertaining Conversation Series?and Ridgefield Library @ The Ridgefield Playhouse Event series with media sponsor WSHU 91.1fm. Bernard's (22 West Lane, Ridgefield; reservations suggested) is offering a $45 prix-fixe menu or a complimentary glass of wine with dinner before this event when tickets are presented.

Tony Kushner received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Angels in America went on to become a mini-series and HBO hit. Kushner also co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film Munich and, in 2012, wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln. This screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award, Boston Society of Film Critics Award, and Chicago Film Critics Award among others.

Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an Emmy Award, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, a Spirit of Justice Award from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a Cultural Achievement Award from The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, a Chicago Tribune Literary Prize for lifetime achievement and the 2012 National Medal of Arts, among many other honors. Caroline, or Change, produced at The National Theatre of Great Britain, received the Evening Standard Award, the London Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Olivier Award for Best Musical. In 2008, Tony Kushner became the first recipient of the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the largest theater award in the U.S.

"Tony Kushner is a dramatist through and through. Even when he is delivering a lecture or writing an essay, other voices break in, all smart, some smart-aleck, in a slaphappy polyphony, as he badgers himself (and others) into shrewd judgments... The results are funny, harsh and wise." (Gary Wills)

For tickets ($67.50), call the box office (203) 438-5795, or order online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT; ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

Photo by Joan Marcus