EmfflaiQ
c all kri(»,,,.- him as
Tony Kushner,
the award-win-
ning dramatist
and playwright who penned
Angels in Aerial, a theatrical
epic that tackles the crisis of
soul and conscience that sur-
rounds the AIDS epidemic.
:assesses' the covett
rize for
be a ce
admire fro-
more >thar
friend Wg
Front And Center
With Tony Kushner
Prior to the noted playwright's Ann Arbor visit,
a family friend shares her reminiscences
of their lives in a small Southern town.
BRENDA BACHRACK Special to The Jewish News
town of La .
That friti
in the folli4in
gives us a rar gl i mp se
background' , e religious
upbrin,,
in
family life that
"nd
helped h
make
Toni
man he .1, t
the
Their rektiocn)csla4 is such
that Kushner spent a day in
Manhattan this summer with
Brenda and Harold Bachrack
and the granddaughter (my
claughtti-), Mary-Brennan. He
prepared a veg ,2torian brunch':
gave them a tour of his Upper
Vest Side apartment and
escorted them through Central
Park tc, the angel statue and
HITiccd his F)4..
,,vorus
9'2;7
,!, F
lere this
counsel. And,
rcn
in a rec
Led
sc_)
;)lual;le c
V:5jt with - his hcn-in
v,.rou,.:,
ca . r,cf .r 3n!_ cuD'icujut,1 discuy--
sion.with iary-13rcilDdil
bedader for upcoming
r hope the following per-
yog.isome
.the.Man-frOm the
bayous of the;Deep' South, .
Tony Kushner.
9/19
1997
94
I got an e-mail from
...
Assisi, Italy, this past
"al
-,,, .
week. My dear friend
5
Tony Kushner was the ,8
lecturer at a seminar there
attended by 40 older Jewish
I
women from the Upper West
Side of New York City. He said
some of them reminded him of
me, and I was greatly compli-
mented.
Tony commented on the
sunflowers, the food, the air,
the atmosphere, the beautiful
Italians everywhere ... and how
nice it was to be in the bosom
of a group of Jewish women "of
a certain age."
"Jewish women are among
the best people in the world,"
he wrote. It was also his 41st
birthday, and although his 40th
was traumatic, now that he is
41 he feels "lucky, grateful and
beyond agony's reach."
How did I get to be the
recipient of these thoughts, the
e-mail buddy of a world-
famous author and playwright?
I don't know — just lucky I
guess.
I have lived in Lake Charles,
La., for 48 years, where my
husband Harold and I raised
our five children and developed
lifelong friendships. Ours is a
small Southern Jewish commu-
0
Brenda Bachrack is an educa-
tor in Lake Charles, La., and the
mother-in-law of Bloomfield
Twp. -based freelance writer
Linda Bachrack.
Tony Kushner
in New York's
Central Park
with the angel
that inspired
his Pulitzer
Prize- and
Tony Award-
winning play.
nity, maybe 60
Jewish families;
at this writing.
Two of our
dearest friends,
Bill and Sylvia
Kushner
(Tony's par-
ents), had
three children
close in age to our own, and we
spent time together in temple,
in Sabbath school, at various
and sundry Passover seders,
Chanukah feasts, Purim carni-
vals, the whole megillah.
As the kids grew older, they
went to universities, nurtured
their own families and lives, and
the adults grew closer. When
Tony's mother, a gifted musi-
cian, died of cancer a few years
ago, I not only lost my best
friend of almost 40 years, I lost
a confidante and a mentor.
Somehow, I don't really remem-
ber exactly when ... maybe while
we were spending so much time
together at the hospital in those
final days, Tony and I became
friends.
Harold and I have always
supported his theatrical endeav-
ors, seeing what we could,
donating when we could, and
kvelling with each success ...
both major and minor. We
remain close to Bill and his new
wife, and they keep us updated
on Tony's career.
What was Tony like as a kid?
Inventive, funny, mouthing off,
full of wacky ideas ... startlingly