written by tony kushner
directed by tony taccone
main season | thrust stage
october 16–november 29, 2009
west coast premiere
Running time: 2 hours and 20 minutes,
including one 15 minute intermission
the plays
- Flip Flop Fly!
- Terminating or Sonnet LXXV or “Lass Meine Schmerzen Nicht Verloren Sein” or Ambivalence
- East Coast Ode to Howard Jarvis: a little teleplay in tiny monologues
- Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker in Paradise
- Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy
It’s time for Tiny Kushner, a series of short scripts by the singular Tony Kushner. The legendary playwright returns to Berkeley Rep to team up with Artistic Director Tony Taccone, who also staged Angels in America, Brundibar, Homebody/Kabul and Slavs! Travel to the moon—and to the afterlife—with Laura Bush, Nixon’s analyst, the queen of Albania and a host of real-life tax evaders, all adrift in an increasingly fragile world. In this co-production with the acclaimed Guthrie Theater, Kushner brings his brilliance and humor to bear in a sparkling string of one-act plays—and his gilded language is guided, as always, by an unwavering moral compass. Don’t miss these gems from a theatrical giant. Don’t miss Tiny Kushner.
the players
Tony Kushner is one of the most important and thought-provoking voices in American theatre. His many honors include a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obies, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and the LAMBDA Literary Award for Drama.
Tony Taccone opened his hit production of Wishful Drinking on Broadway at Studio 54. With Tiny Kushner, he generates the same mix of intense emotion and timely politics that electrified shows like Continental Divide, Culture Clash’s Zorro in Hell and Yellowjackets.
buzz from the artists
“For people who think I’m an unbearably long-winded playwright, Tiny Kushner is proof that I can be unbearable in short plays as well! It’s always a great moment for me when I have a play opening at Berkeley Rep. It means I get to spend time among the gorgeous and brilliant people of the Bay Area, torturing myself with questions about why I don’t move there. And I get to work again with my great friend Tiny Taccone, oops I mean Tony Taccone—who isn’t tiny in the least; his talent is gigantic! Though in fact he is considerably shorter than me.”—Tony Kushner
“The coolest thing about Tiny Kushner is its endless sense of surprise and delight: five little plays that show off the playwright’s seemingly endless gifts with an economy that puts no pressure on the bladder. This is a man who can deliver words like food for every part of our starving bodies. And he is funny to boot. Welcome back, Tony Kushner. It’s been too long.”—Tony Taccone
multimedia
Comedy doesn’t come much funnier or smarter than Tiny Kushner
Many of the people you’ll meet in Tiny Kushner are based on real-life figures, including…
- Lucia Pamela, who, among other things, created a coloring book based on her trip to the moon (PDF). Get out your crayons and get to work. While on the moon, Lucia also recorded an album, which you can sample here.
- Howard Jarvis, an anti-tax crusader who also co-sponsored California’s controversial Proposition 13. Jarvis appears here on an October 1978 broadcast of The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
from the blog
One actor, 23 parts and a storyboard
Storyboards help Tiny Kushner actor Jim Lichtscheidl tackle 23 big roles in one tiny play.
