Tony Kushner, Reinaldo Arenas
Der amerikanische Drehbuchautor und Schriftsteller Tony Kushner wurde am 16. Juli 1956 in New York geboren. Seine Eltern William Kushner und Sylvia (Deutscher) Kushner, beide Musiker, zogen kurz nach seiner Geburt in die Stadt Lake Charles, Louisiana. 1974 zog er nach New York, um an der Columbia University zu studieren. Dort machte er den Bachelor in Englischer Literatur. Im Jahre 2003 heiratete er seinen Freund Mark Harris, Redakteur bei „Entertainment Weekly“. Sein bekanntestes Theaterstück ist das umstrittene Werk Angels in America, wofür er unter anderen den Pulitzer-Preis und den Tony Award für das beste Theaterstück bekam. 2003 entstand nach dem Stück eine Fernseh-Miniserie von Mike Nichols mit Stars wie Al Pacino, Meryl Streep und Emma Thompson. 2004 erlebte in Paris die gleichnamige Oper von Peter Eötvös ihre erfolgreiche Uraufführung. Weitere Bühnenstücke sind „Slavs“, „Homebody/Kabul“ und „Carolin, or Change“.
Aus: Angels in America
(Joe and Louis sitting shoulder to shoulder in the dunes at Jones Beach, facing the ocean. It's cold. The sound of waves and gulls and distant Belt Parkway traffic. New York Romantic. Joe is very cold, Louis as always is oblivious to the weather.)
JOE. Louis ...?
LOUIS. The winter Atlantic. Wow, huh?
JOE. Ferocious. It's freezing, what are we ...
LOUIS. There used to be guys in the dunes even when it snowed. Nothing deterred us from the task at hand.
JOE. Which was?
LOUIS. Exploration. Across an unmapped terrain. The body of the homosexual human male. Here, or the Ramble, or the scrub pines on Fire Island, or the St. Mark's Baths. Hardy pioneers. Like your ancestors.
JOE. Not exactly.
LOUIS. And many have perished on the trail. I fucked around a whole lot more than he did. So why is he the sick one? No justice. Anyway I wanted you to see this.
JOE. Why?
LOUIS. No reason.
(Little pause)
JOE. I love you.
LOUIS. No you don't.
JOE. Yes I do.
LOUIS. NO YOU DON'T. You think you do but that's just the gay virgin thing, that's ...
JOE. (tousling Louis' hair) Stop working so hard. Listen to the ocean. I love it when you can get to places and see what it used to be. The whole country was like this once. A paradise.
LOUIS. Ruined now.
JOE. It's a great country. Best place on earth. Best place to be.
LOUIS. I can't believe you're a Mormon. You never told me.
JOE. You never asked.
LOUIS. You said you were a Protestant.
JOE. I am. Sort of.
LOUIS. So what else haven't you told me? So the fruity underwear you wear, that's ...
Tony Kushner (New York, 16. Juli 1956)
Der kubanische Schriftsteller und Dissident Reinaldo Arenas wurde am 16. Juli 1943 in Holguín, Kuba; geboren. Nachdem Reinaldo Arenas sich anfänglich in den 1960ern für Fidel Castros kommunistische Revolution begeistert hatte, stand er dem Regime bald kritisch gegenüber. Seine Werke wurden zensiert bzw. verboten. Als Vorwand diente der Vorwurf der Pornografie. Die Werke missfielen dem Regime Castros jedoch aufgrund ihrer systemkritischen und nonkonformistischen Grundhaltung. Zudem lebte Arenas offen schwul, und Fidel Castro erklärte Homosexuelle zu Feinden der Revolution. Schließlich wurde Reinaldo Arenas 1973 verhaftet und gezwungen, sein Werk zu widerrufen. Sein Roman El mundo alucinante wurde aus Kuba hinausgeschmuggelt und konnte nur im Exil erscheinen.
Versuche, Kuba zu verlassen, scheiterten zunächst. Schließlich gelang ihm 1980 die Ausreise, als Fidel Castro Homosexuelle und andere „asoziale Elemente“ in die USA emigrieren ließ. Sein Name tauchte allerdings auf einer Liste von dieser Erlaubnis ausgenommener Personen auf – erst im letzten Moment änderte er seinen Namen im (handschriftlich ausgefüllten) Reisepass in Arinas und konnte so entkommen. Nach einem Aufenthalt in Miami ließ er sich in New York nieder. 1987 wurde bei ihm AIDS diagnostiziert. Nach Beendigung seines autobiografischen Romans Bevor es Nacht wird (Antes que anochezca/Before Night Falls) nahm er sich mit einer Überdosis Tabletten und Alkohol 1990 das Leben.
Aus: The Empty Shoes (Übersetzt von Dolores M. Koch)
“Gosh! when did this happen? Heaven knows. . . . A while back, no date I can remember, everything was always so much the same that it was really difficult to distinguish one month from the next. Oh, but January was different. You know, January is the month of the upitos and the bellflowers, but it is also the month when the Three Wise Men pay us a visit.
The grass by the window was tall enough for their horses, and my shoes, a little bashful because they had holes in their tips, were there, waiting, openmouthed and a bit damp with evening dew.
It will soon be midnight.
They will come after you’re asleep, my cousin had whispered in a confidential tone. And they will leave your gifts on top of the shoes. When I am asleep! But I couldn’t fall asleep, I was hearing the crickets chirping outside, and I thought I heard steps too; but no, it was not them.
To sleep. I had to fall asleep, but how? My shoes were there on the windowsill, waiting.
I have to think about something else so I can fall asleep. Yes, that’s it, I’ll think about something else: Tomorrow we have to trim the flight feathers and fill the water tank. After that I’ll go by the brook and bring back a basket of honey berries. . . . I should not have brought down that nest that had two naked baby birds with gaping beaks and a look of fear in their eyes. . . .
I woke up. It was so early that only a few scant rays of light were coming through the window. Almost blindly I walked to the window. How many surprises, I thought, were awaiting me. . . . But no. I touched the moist leather of my shoes: they were empty, completely empty.
Then my mother came and kissed me in silence, caressed my wet eyes with hands tired of washing dishes, nudged me softly to the edge of the bed, and slipped the shoes on my feet. Come, she whispered then, the coffee is ready. Then I went out and got soaked with dew. I had some flight feathers to trim.”
Reinaldo Arenas (16. Juli 1943 – 7. Dezember 1990)
Aus: Angels in America
(Joe and Louis sitting shoulder to shoulder in the dunes at Jones Beach, facing the ocean. It's cold. The sound of waves and gulls and distant Belt Parkway traffic. New York Romantic. Joe is very cold, Louis as always is oblivious to the weather.)
JOE. Louis ...?
LOUIS. The winter Atlantic. Wow, huh?
JOE. Ferocious. It's freezing, what are we ...
LOUIS. There used to be guys in the dunes even when it snowed. Nothing deterred us from the task at hand.
JOE. Which was?
LOUIS. Exploration. Across an unmapped terrain. The body of the homosexual human male. Here, or the Ramble, or the scrub pines on Fire Island, or the St. Mark's Baths. Hardy pioneers. Like your ancestors.
JOE. Not exactly.
LOUIS. And many have perished on the trail. I fucked around a whole lot more than he did. So why is he the sick one? No justice. Anyway I wanted you to see this.
JOE. Why?
LOUIS. No reason.
(Little pause)
JOE. I love you.
LOUIS. No you don't.
JOE. Yes I do.
LOUIS. NO YOU DON'T. You think you do but that's just the gay virgin thing, that's ...
JOE. (tousling Louis' hair) Stop working so hard. Listen to the ocean. I love it when you can get to places and see what it used to be. The whole country was like this once. A paradise.
LOUIS. Ruined now.
JOE. It's a great country. Best place on earth. Best place to be.
LOUIS. I can't believe you're a Mormon. You never told me.
JOE. You never asked.
LOUIS. You said you were a Protestant.
JOE. I am. Sort of.
LOUIS. So what else haven't you told me? So the fruity underwear you wear, that's ...
Tony Kushner (New York, 16. Juli 1956)
Der kubanische Schriftsteller und Dissident Reinaldo Arenas wurde am 16. Juli 1943 in Holguín, Kuba; geboren. Nachdem Reinaldo Arenas sich anfänglich in den 1960ern für Fidel Castros kommunistische Revolution begeistert hatte, stand er dem Regime bald kritisch gegenüber. Seine Werke wurden zensiert bzw. verboten. Als Vorwand diente der Vorwurf der Pornografie. Die Werke missfielen dem Regime Castros jedoch aufgrund ihrer systemkritischen und nonkonformistischen Grundhaltung. Zudem lebte Arenas offen schwul, und Fidel Castro erklärte Homosexuelle zu Feinden der Revolution. Schließlich wurde Reinaldo Arenas 1973 verhaftet und gezwungen, sein Werk zu widerrufen. Sein Roman El mundo alucinante wurde aus Kuba hinausgeschmuggelt und konnte nur im Exil erscheinen.
Versuche, Kuba zu verlassen, scheiterten zunächst. Schließlich gelang ihm 1980 die Ausreise, als Fidel Castro Homosexuelle und andere „asoziale Elemente“ in die USA emigrieren ließ. Sein Name tauchte allerdings auf einer Liste von dieser Erlaubnis ausgenommener Personen auf – erst im letzten Moment änderte er seinen Namen im (handschriftlich ausgefüllten) Reisepass in Arinas und konnte so entkommen. Nach einem Aufenthalt in Miami ließ er sich in New York nieder. 1987 wurde bei ihm AIDS diagnostiziert. Nach Beendigung seines autobiografischen Romans Bevor es Nacht wird (Antes que anochezca/Before Night Falls) nahm er sich mit einer Überdosis Tabletten und Alkohol 1990 das Leben.
Aus: The Empty Shoes (Übersetzt von Dolores M. Koch)
“Gosh! when did this happen? Heaven knows. . . . A while back, no date I can remember, everything was always so much the same that it was really difficult to distinguish one month from the next. Oh, but January was different. You know, January is the month of the upitos and the bellflowers, but it is also the month when the Three Wise Men pay us a visit.
The grass by the window was tall enough for their horses, and my shoes, a little bashful because they had holes in their tips, were there, waiting, openmouthed and a bit damp with evening dew.
It will soon be midnight.
They will come after you’re asleep, my cousin had whispered in a confidential tone. And they will leave your gifts on top of the shoes. When I am asleep! But I couldn’t fall asleep, I was hearing the crickets chirping outside, and I thought I heard steps too; but no, it was not them.
To sleep. I had to fall asleep, but how? My shoes were there on the windowsill, waiting.
I have to think about something else so I can fall asleep. Yes, that’s it, I’ll think about something else: Tomorrow we have to trim the flight feathers and fill the water tank. After that I’ll go by the brook and bring back a basket of honey berries. . . . I should not have brought down that nest that had two naked baby birds with gaping beaks and a look of fear in their eyes. . . .
I woke up. It was so early that only a few scant rays of light were coming through the window. Almost blindly I walked to the window. How many surprises, I thought, were awaiting me. . . . But no. I touched the moist leather of my shoes: they were empty, completely empty.
Then my mother came and kissed me in silence, caressed my wet eyes with hands tired of washing dishes, nudged me softly to the edge of the bed, and slipped the shoes on my feet. Come, she whispered then, the coffee is ready. Then I went out and got soaked with dew. I had some flight feathers to trim.”
Reinaldo Arenas (16. Juli 1943 – 7. Dezember 1990)
froumen - 16. Jul, 19:38
