Tony Kushner's Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 3:30pm

For those of you interested in reading Kushner's Laura Bush scene that was the basis of the benefit last night with John Cameron Mitchell and Patricia Clarkson (and has received several readings around town in the last year including one with Marcia Gay Harden), here's the text. It was a cover story in the Nation last year -- I have the issue, but just discovered that it's still online in their archives:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030324&c=1&s=kushner

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 3:32pm

I saw a reading of it last fall. Lee Habib from The Laura Ingrahm Show was one of the panelists during the talk back. He's one of those people who prefaces every sentence with "With all due respect..." when he means the exact opposite.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 3:44pm

So how was the reading, Namo? :)

[mabel]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 4:28pm

I saw a reading of this at Pace University a few months ago. Marcia Gay Harden played Laura Bush. It was humorous at times (towards the beginning), though ultimately, as it progressed, became pretty disturbing (in a rather affective way). I wish I could have made it to the City to catch JCM and Co yesterday.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 4:33pm

I also saw the Harden performance and thought she was wonderful (despite being 8 months pregnant). Her Texas accent was absolutely dead on.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 4:44pm

I saw a genius actress named Karen MacDonald read it. Karen Black did the reading in San Francisco last Halloween.

I think the piece has a lot of potential and could evolve into something really good. Lee Habib went on and on about how unfair it was to pick on the First Lady. (I guess he missed all the Hilary jokes back in the day.) But for the most part, I felt she was not picked on. As Kushner has noted, a woman who claims that The Brothers Karamazov is her favorite novel is not a shallow thinker.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/10/04 at 2:10pm

Tony Kushner's "Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy" will be presented again during the Republican Convention at New York Theatre Workshop. Casting will be announced. Tickets are free.

From Playbill.com:

At 7 PM Aug. 30-Sept. 1, New York Theatre Workshop, "in an effort to foster community dialogue," will present a double bill of pieces of the Kushner play plus an encore presentation of Mark Crispin Miller's Patriot Act: a Public Meditation.

The performances are part of the Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues & Ideas, representing more than 100 events at venues around New York City Aug. 28-Sept. 2 (which coincides with the Republican National Convention).

.................

The three performances play 7 PM Aug. 30, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

The events are free. Tickets will be available at the NYTW box office beginning at 1 PM each performance day for that evening's performance, continuing until all tickets are distributed.

For more information, visit www.imagine04.org .



http://www.playbill.com/news/article/87820.html