March 21: Kushner to take over three stages at Guthrie

The clock is ticking. In 13 months, Twin Cities audiences will get the nation's first look at Tony Kushner's newest play. "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures" brings Kushner to work in Minneapolis for the first time and signals a dramatic new direction for the Guthrie Theater.

Now, all that needs to happen is for Guthrie director Joe Dowling and Kushner to agree on a cast, a director, designers, workshops, previews, process, marketing.

Oh, and Kushner must sit down and start writing the thing.

The new play will be the centerpiece of a Kushner-fest at the Guthrie in the spring of 2009. While "The Intelligent Homosexual" gets its shakedown cruise on the proscenium stage, "Caroline, or Change," his 2003 musical, will play the larger thrust stage, and several small works (not yet announced) will show in the 200-seat studio.

Never has the Guthrie focused so intently on a living playwright, and not just any writer. Kushner is arguably the leading American playwright/provocateur. His "Angels in America" remains a modern masterpiece; "Homebody/Kabul" took on religious fundamentalism, and "Caroline" attacked racial issues in the early 1960s.

"This is not a bland writer who is not going to offend anyone," said Dowling. "We're taking those risks and that chance because this is what the theater needs to be about."

This bold gesture, Dowling said, is the first inkling of his vision for the new three-stage theater completed in 2006. He promises more, and with it a heightened national profile for the Guthrie. "We're not afraid of a higher visibility," he said. "We're not afraid of the quality of work we do."

Dowling admitted recently that he's a bit nervous about Kushner's timetable ("It's nail-biting time"), but he acknowledged that this is the price of admission when you work with someone in high demand.

Kushner has on his plate a screenplay about Abraham Lincoln for Steven Spielberg and another about Eugene O'Neill for Scott Rudin before he can address this play -- with hopes he can get something done this summer.

"I have an optimistic deadline, and then a 'Kill yourself if you don't make this' deadline," Kushner said by phone. "When I start to write a draft, it takes six weeks and then I become very, very fast and efficient. I'm really good at rewriting and workshops and rehearsals and previews. I love doing that."

An intimate, but sprawling family drama

Kushner's title alone telegraphs his intention to provoke. "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures" will be specific to the life of a man who has become an advocate for gay rights, a socialist, an agnostic. Kushner said he sees it as an intimate family drama -- closer in sensibility to the literalism of "Caroline."

"It's not 'Angels,'" he said. "Unless something happens -- and I always give myself permission for that -- it's something about a family and it happens at one or two specific locations."

But, of course, it wouldn't be Kushner without a wild card.

"My tendency is to sprawl, and I've never been able to control that," said the author of the six-hour, two-part "Angels." "So we'll see where that goes."

Although he still hasn't written a draft, this title ("I've always loved the title") has been knocking around in Kushner's head for years. It is an idea that struck him when he turned 40 in 1996, he said. He would frequently lecture on its ideas, and he published a meditation by that name in the back of his 1998 "Tony Kushner in Conversation."

"I was in the middle of reading Proust for the first time," he said of the period when the ideas struck. "So it's got a lot of, the sentences go on forever and I used to read from it. But I don't think [the original] will be connected to this play."

The first mention that he might turn it into a play came in the early part of this decade, when news leaked that it might be produced at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

"We were always talking about projects and he said to me numerous times, 'I want to write a play for you,'" said Gordon Davidson, who then ran the Taper and had produced several Kushner projects, including "Angels in America."

"I left a slot for him in the '04-'05 season and he wasn't ready for that," said Davidson, who has a long, friendly relationship with Kushner. "There wasn't even enough for a reading because I would have done that."

Guthrie-Kushner relations

The Guthrie's pursuit of Kushner is not new. He recalled being approached to write something for the opening of the theater in 2006 ("It was completely impossible; there wasn't time") and Dowling floated the idea of using the full capacity of the new building for a three-play festival.

Tom Proehl, then Guthrie general manager, wrote the original commission ("for a title to be determined later," he said), for a standard fee of about $10,000. That seems shockingly low for a writer of Kushner's stature. Proehl said in an interview that the playwright could have demanded more, but Kushner is wary of upfront money.

"I feel adamantly that commissions are dangerous because you're selling something before you've done it," he said. "I don't even know if I'm getting a commission but if I am, I hope it's small. I'll call my agent to see what I'm getting."

Kushner visited the new building for the first time in January, when he and Dowling sifted through possible offerings for the studio portion of the festival. On that Saturday night, he watched "Peer Gynt" ("the best 'Peer' I've ever seen").

"It was one of those horrible cold nights and the audience was really sitting and listening to the thing and enjoying it," he said. "Out in the lobby during intermission, the conversations were so entirely about the play and I thought, 'This feels really good.' They were interested in the right kind of theater -- the kind I'm interested in."

Away from the withering eye of New York

Besides a longtime desire to do a play at the Guthrie, Kushner also likes the opportunity it affords him to escape the "hideous pressure" of opening a play in New York.

"You can imagine how he must feel, someone who's achieved the status Tony has," said Davidson. "You say, 'Where can I go to do this?'"

Kushner wasn't keen on Chicago, which he said "doesn't feel like a friendly city to me right now," even though he enjoyed working at Steppenwolf and with director Frank Galati (on "Homebody/Kabul"). If the work does well in Minneapolis, he could see it going to Berkeley Rep or into New York at the Public, based on his longstanding relationships with Tony Taccone in Berkeley and Oskar Eustis, the Public's artistic director and a native Minnesotan.

"Tony does it with people, not with theaters," Davidson said.

Kushner is not looking toward future productions, however, and neither is Dowling.

"I don't care about the New York pressure," Dowling said. "I care about the Minneapolis pressure. The pressure is here to make sure the work is right for our stage. And what happens after that will be in the lap of the gods."

Davidson agrees.

"The pull of Broadway is always there, but your audience is Minneapolis," he said. "And if it creates attention, you've still done it for the right reasons."

When it comes time to get the Guthrie production on its feet, Kushner hopes to be intimately involved. He needs to "know more about the play" before he can talk about a director. In terms of casting, he has said in several reports that he has actor Kathleen Chalfant in mind for one character. Stephen Spinella's name arose during the Taper flirtation, and he brought up Linda Emond in a recent interview.

Whether those actors are available to come to Minneapolis is, of course, another matter. Too, Dowling has been intentionally pushing to use Twin Cities actors at the Guthrie. For Kushner, these are critical decisions.

"If I write a part that's good enough for Stephen Spinella or Linda Emond or Kathy Chalfant caliber, I've got to have those kind of actors because they can do things that even very good actors can't," he said. "And I need to be able to talk directly to the actors. I find it necessary to do that, to talk a lot and work with them directly when it's very raw material. I'm just going to have to work that out."

First things first, though. There is the matter of that first draft.

"We check in a lot and I know he's been buried in the Lincoln project for Spielberg," said Davidson. "But in Tony's case, it's always worth the wait."

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299

By Graydon Royce groyce@startribune.com The clock is ticking. In 13 months, Twin Cities audiences will get the nation's first look at Tony Kushner's newest play. "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures" brings Kushner to work in Minneapolis for the first time, and signals a dramatic new direction for the Guthrie Theater. Now, all that needs to happen is for Guthrie director Joe Dowling and Kushner to agree on a cast, a director, designers, workshops, previews, process, marketing. Oh, and Kushner must sit down and start writing the thing. The new play is the centerpiece of a Kushner-fest at the Guthrie in the spring of 2009. While "The Intelligent Homosexual" gets its shakedown cruise on the proscenium stage, "Caroline, or Change," his 2003 musical, plays the larger thrust stage, and several small works (not yet announced) will show in the 200-seat studio. Never has the Guthrie focused so intently on a living playwright, and not just any writer. Kushner is arguably the leading American playwright/provocateur. His "Angels in America" remains a modern masterpiece, "Homebody/Kabul" took on religious fundamentalism and "Caroline" attacked racial issues in the early 1960s. "This is not a bland writer who is not going to offend anyone," said Dowling. "We're taking those risks and that chance because this is what the theater needs to be about." This bold gesture, Dowling said, is the first inkling of his vision for the new three-stage theater completed in 2006. He promises more, and with it a heightened national profile for the Guthrie. "We're not afraid of a higher visibility," he said. "We're not afraid of the quality of work we do." Dowling admitted recently that he's a bit nervous about Kushner's timetable ("It's nail-biting time"), but he acknowledged that this is the price of admission when you work with someone in high demand. Kushner has on his plate a screenplay about Abraham Lincoln for Steven Spielberg and another about Eugene O'Neill for Scott Rudin before he can address this play -- with hopes he can get something done this summer. "I have an optimistic deadline, and then a 'Kill yourself if you don't make this' deadline," Kushner said by phone. "When I start to write a draft, it takes six weeks and then I become very, very fast and efficient. I'm really good at rewriting and workshops and rehearsals and previews. I love doing that." An intimate, but sprawling family drama Kushner's title alone telegraphs his intention to provoke. "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures" will be specific to the life of a man who has become an advocate for gay rights, a socialist, an agnostic. Kushner said he sees it as an intimate family drama -- closer in sensibility to the literalism of "Caroline." "It's not 'Angels,'" he said. "Unless something happens -- and I always give myself permission for that -- it's something about a family and it happens at one or two specific locations." But, of course, it wouldn't be Kushner without a wild card. "My tendency is to sprawl, and I've never been able to control that," said the author of the six-hour, two-part "Angels." "So we'll see where that goes." Although he still hasn't written a draft, this title ("I've always loved the title") has been knocking around in Kushner's head for years. It is an idea that struck him when he turned 40 in 1996, he said. He would frequently lecture on its ideas, and he published a meditation by that name in the back of his 1998 "Tony Kushner in Conversation." "I was in the middle of reading Proust for the first time," he said of the period when the ideas struck. "So it's got a lot of, the sentences go on forever and I used to read from it. But I don't think [the original] will be connected to this play." The first mention that he might turn it into a play came in the early part of this decade, when news leaked that it might be produced at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. "We were always talking about projects and he said to me numerous times, 'I want to write a play for you,'" said Gordon Davidson, who then ran the Taper and had produced several Kushner projects, including "Angels in America." "I left a slot for him in the '04-'05 season and he wasn't ready for that," said Davidson, who has a long, friendly relationship with Kushner. "There wasn't even enough for a reading because I would have done that." Guthrie-Kushner relations The Guthrie's pursuit of Kushner is not new. He recalled being approached to write something for the opening of the theater in 2006 ("It was completely impossible; there wasn't time") and Dowling floated the idea of using the full capacity of the new building for a three-play festival. Tom Proehl, then Guthrie general manager, wrote the original commission ("for a title to be determined later," he said), for a standard fee of about $10,000. That seems shockingly low for a writer of Kushner's stature. Proehl said in an interview that the playwright could have demanded more, but Kushner is wary of upfront money. "I feel adamantly that commissions are dangerous because you're selling something before you've done it," he said. "I don't even know if I'm getting a commission but if I am, I hope it's small. I'll call my agent to see what I'm getting." Kushner visited the new building for the first time in January, when he and Dowling sifted through possible offerings for the studio portion of the festival. On that Saturday night, he watched "Peer Gynt" ("the best 'Peer' I've ever seen"). "It was one of those horrible cold nights and the audience was really sitting and listening to the thing and enjoying it," he said. "Out in the lobby during intermission, the conversations were so entirely about the play and I thought, 'This feels really good.' They were interested in the right kind of theater -- the kind I'm interested in." Away from the withering eye of New York Besides a longtime desire to do a play at the Guthrie, Kushner also likes the opportunity it affords him to escape the "hideous pressure" of opening a play in New York. "You can imagine how he must feel, someone who's achieved the status Tony has," said Davidson. "You say, 'Where can I go to do this?'" Kushner wasn't keen on Chicago, which he said "doesn't feel like a friendly city to me right now," even though he enjoyed working at Steppenwolf and with director Frank Galati (on "Homebody/Kabul"). If the work does well in Minneapolis, he could see it going to Berkeley Rep or into New York at the Public, based on his longstanding relationships with Tony Taccone in Berkeley and Oskar Eustis, the Public's artistic director and a native Minnesotan. "Tony does it with people, not with theaters," Davidson said. Kushner is not looking toward future productions, however, and neither is Dowling. "I don't care about the New York pressure," Dowling said. "I care about the Minneapolis pressure. The pressure is here to make sure the work is right for our stage. And what happens after that will be in the lap of the gods." Davidson agrees. "The pull of Broadway is always there, but your audience is Minneapolis," he said. "And if it creates attention, you've still done it for the right reasons." When it comes time to get the Guthrie production on its feet, Kushner hopes to be intimately involved. He needs to "know more about the play" before he can talk about a director. In terms of casting, he has said in several reports that he has actor Kathleen Chalfant in mind for one character. Stephen Spinella's name arose during the Taper flirtation, and he brought up Linda Emond in a recent interview. Whether those actors are available to come to Minneapolis is, of course, another matter. Too, Dowling has been intentionally pushing to use Twin Cities actors at the Guthrie. For Kushner, these are critical decisions. "If I write a part that's good enough for Stephen Spinella or Linda Emond or Kathy Chalfant caliber," he said, "I've got to have those kind of actors because they can do things that even very good actors can't. And I need to be able to talk directly to the actors. I find it necessary to do that, to talk a lot and work with them directly when it's very raw material. I'm just going to have to work that out." First things first, though. There is the matter of that first draft. "We check in a lot and I know he's been buried in the Lincoln project for Spielberg," said Davidson. "But in Tony's case, it's always worth the wait." Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299