A Guthrie coup! Kushner play to premiere here

The Guthrie Theater announced Thursday that it will premiere a new play by Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning playwright best known for his two-part "Angels in America."

The coup marks the Guthrie's most aggressive move as a developer of new work. A Kushner premiere in Minneapolis will draw international attention, as producers and critics assess its potential for further productions -- in New York, London, Chicago and elsewhere.

The theater has moved tentatively into this area, most notably with 2002's staging of Arthur Miller's "Resurrection Blues," but Kushner's currency and notoriety raise the stakes.

"I think in the world of theater today, there are a couple of names that one would target for new plays, and Tony is by far on the top of that list," said Guthrie Director Joe Dowling on Thursday.

"I think he's the Shaw of his time," Dowling said. "He deals with big, public issues and from that point of view, he's absolutely the writer that we want."

Dowling, who did not reveal the financial terms of the commission, said that if all goes well, Kushner's play, "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures," will premiere on the McGuire Proscenium stage in spring 2009.

Politics and social mores take center stage in Kushner's plays. His nearly four-hour "Homebody/Kabul" lashed U.S. government policies in Afghanistan -- before 9/11. His book and lyrics for the musical "Caroline, or Change" explored civil rights at the time of the Kennedy assassination, through the lens of his Louisiana roots.

"Angels," his sprawling seven-hour masterpiece, is a fantasia about AIDS, religion and the conservative political movement in the 1980s. The play, made into an HBO miniseries in 2003, won an Emmy. He also has won three Obie Awards and been nominated for an Oscar for the "Munich" screenplay.

Kushner likes big themes

This new play seems to have been in Kushner's head for a while. Dowling noted that "Tony himself has been talking about this for some time." The playwright discussed the ideas in a lecture as far back as 1998, and a 2003 story in the New York Times reported that the play was targeted for a 2005 production at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, starring actor Stephen Spinella (who won two Tonys for his performances in "Angels"). A Taper spokesperson, however, said the piece never was officially on the schedule.

Although Kushner could not be reached to talk about the new play, Dowling said his conversations indicated it would be set in Brooklyn and deal with the dynamic of growing up gay in a family situation. An agnostic with admitted socialist leanings, Kushner employed biblical imagery in "Angels," which became a rallying anthem for gays.

Dowling said he hopes this commission will lead to a stronger relationship with Kushner, which again would raise the theater's national visibility. "This is the beginning of a relationship with Tony Kushner and we hope we'll have other things to announce at a different stage," he said.

The Guthrie, founded as a home for the classics, has staged several significant new plays in the past five years. The new theater on the river opened with Simon Levy's adaptation of "The Great Gatsby." More recently, Dowling directed the U.S. premiere of "The Home Place," by Irish playwright Brian Friel. Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout came to see the play this week, calling the production "a national event."

Kushner was part of a project in 1998 in which seven American playwrights wrote small works inspired by Shakespeare sonnets. Produced by the Acting Company, it had its world premiere at the old Guthrie Lab.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299