Tony Kushner(I)

Brandeis University awarded him an honorary Doctorate in 2006. This decision was the source of some controversy among some conservative members of the Brandeis student body, faculty, staff, and alumni who objected to Kushner because they perceived his co-authorship of München (2005) and some of his stated views to be anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. Kushner responded with a letter to the editor of the Jewish newspaper "The Forward" in which he said that he is "a proud Jew, a Jewish-American man" who "love[s] Israel," but whose "opinions about Israel are characterized by a serious ambivalence." Kushner was also quoted in Newsweek as saying that his statements about Israel have been taken out of context and "anybody who thinks there's a simple line to be taken on the Middle East is an idiot." Despite the protests, Brandeis pledged to go ahead and award the honorary degree to Kushner.

[on Meryl Streep's open-air performance in 'Mother Courage and Her Children'] The set was mostly dirt, so by the end of the evening it was mud, and Meryl incorporated it into her performance. Thinking of her slogging around in the mud singing 'The Song of the Great Capitulation' is one of my favorite memories of any theater that I've had anything to do with.