Tony Kushner Joins 'An Evening with Rachel Maddow' on Memorial Day Weekend in Provincetown

The Provincetown Bookshop has announced that Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of "Angels in America," will join Rachel Maddow, the Emmy-Award winning author and host of MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," for its special live event: "An Evening with Rachel Maddow" on Memorial Day Weekend, Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 6:30 PM EDT at Provincetown Town Hall.

Rachel Maddow will begin the event by reading and discussing an excerpt from her new instant #1 New York Times best selling book "Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism." This will be followed by a 45 - 60 minute long interview, moderated by celebrated author, playwright, and screenwriter Tony Kushner, in which Maddow will discuss her life and career, her Emmy-winning MSNBC show, and her hobbies. Included with the price of each ticket purchased will be a hard copy edition of "Prequel." For tickets and information, please visit this link.

Rachel Maddow is the host of the Emmy Award–winning "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC, as well as the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "Drift" and "Blowout," and the New York Times bestselling co-author of "Bag Man." Maddow has also written, produced, and hosted three original podcasts for MSNBC: "Rachel Maddow Presents: Bag Man," "Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra," and, most recently, the six-episode series "Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News," which debuted in June at #1 on Apple Podcasts.

Maddow received a bachelor's degree in public policy from Stanford University and earned her doctorate in political science at Oxford University. She lives in New York City and Massachusetts with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.

Inspired by the research for her #1 Apple podcast "Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra," from MSNBC, "Prequel" seeks to offer a road map of U.S. history, marked both with heroics to emulate and traps and pitfalls to avoid. With her inimitable wit and humor, Maddow exposes the origins of this American strain of authoritarianism and how the seeds of extremism that were planted in the past have reached forward through history into our present.

Tony Kushner's plays include "A Bright Room Called Day"; "Angels in America, Parts One and Two;"; "Slavs!"; "Homebody/Kabul"; the musical "Caroline, or Change" and the opera "A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck," both with composer Jeanine Tesori; and "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide To Capitalism And Socialism With A Key To The Scriptures." He has adapted Pierre Corneille's "The Illusion," S.Y. Ansky's "The Dybbuk," Bertolt Brecht's "The Good Person of Szechwan," and "Mother Courage and Her Children," and the English-language libretto for the opera" Brundibár" by Hans Krasa. He wrote the screenplay for Mike Nichols's film of "Angels In America;" the screenplays for Steven Spielberg's films "Munich," "Lincoln," and "West Side Story"; and "The Fabelmans," co-written and directed by Steven Spielberg, released in November 2022. His books include "Brundibar," with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; "The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present"; and "Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict," co-edited with Alisa Solomon.

Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an Olivier Award, an Emmy Award, two Oscar nominations, and the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, among other honors. In 2012, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. He lives in Manhattan with his husband, Mark Harris.

The Provincetown Bookshop is Cape Cod's oldest bookstore, celebrating its 92nd year in 2024. The shop is a well-curated general interest bookstore, a door to discovery with a little something for everyone and a nod to local authors and LGBTQ+ stories.

The shop's new owners are excited to continue the shop's legacy and add their community-driven personal touch.

1932: Paul Smith originally opened the Provincetown Bookshop at 447 Commercial Street (now Karilon Gallery), specializing in local authors even then and allowed customers to both buy or rent books for five cents a day into the 1950s. Smith moved the shop to 246 Commercial Street, commonly referred to as the Port-Hole Building, in 1940, where it remained until 2021. Despite only being two rooms, the shop was designed to allow visitors to get lost in the stacks. In 1963 Joel Newman, a professor of music at Columbia University, and his partner, Elloyd Hanson, purchased the bookshop and also published ensemble music under the Provincetown Bookshop name.

The 1960-70s: Filmmaker and writer John Waters, who worked at the bookshop, credits much of his education to Hanson's reading suggestions. "I didn't go to college, but I went to the Provincetown Bookshop," said Waters famously. From 1970-2021, Newman's family and a small, dedicated staff (special thanks to Deb, Clayton, Jane, Jennette, and Nan) ran the shop after his death, calling it "a labor of love."

2021: The shop was put up for sale and purchased by Barbara Clarke and her daughters, Isabella and Catherine, who grew up loving the quirky shop as another member of the family. In 2022 Provincetown Bookshop celebrated its 90th Year with its first website and new home at 229 Commercial Street, saying, "Thank you for continuing to write our bookshop story with us." For more information, visit visit the bookshop's website.