About the author:
Michael Esper’s last name is synonymous with excellence in acting: His parents, William and Suzanne, teach at the famed William Esper Studio, and his dad heads the theater program at Rutgers University, where Michael studied. But there’s no doubt that the younger Esper has earned acclaim on his own merits, amassing an impressive list of ...

The opening night crowd at the Public Theater cheered on May 5 when Tony Kushner’s mammoth family drama The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures made its off-Broadway bow. This co-production with Signature Theatre Company stars Kushner specialists Stephen Spinella (a two-time Tony winner for Angels in America) and Linda Emond ...

New York theater fans are rejoicing the arrival of a new play by Tony Kushner, the juicy family epic The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures. This joint production of Signature Theater Company and the Public Theater stars Michael Cristofer as a troubled retired labor leader and father to a trio of ...

Meet the Marcantonios, the deeply dysfunctional yet always human family at the center of Tony Kushner’s new play, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures. In the first scene, the patriarch, a retired Communist labor leader and dock worker, announces his intention to commit suicide—and the drama proceeds from there ...

The self-analyzing characters of playwright Tony Kushner are a perfect match for Stephen Spinella, who earned a spot in the Tony record book when he won consecutive awards for playing AIDS patient Prior Walter in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Best Featured Actor 1993) and Perestroika (Best Actor 1994). Now Kushner has given this smart, witty actor a doozy of ...

The first preview of Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures has been postponed by one day “to provide the cast and crew with an additional dress rehearsal,” according to a production news release. The play will now begin performances on March 23 at the Public Theater, where it ...

Actor couples tend to be happy when one person is working, but Steven Pasquale and his wife, Tony winner Laura Benanti, have a double reason to celebrate: They’ve both landed juicy leading roles in promising TV pilots. Pasquale will star as a former day trader who becomes a high-end bookie in USA’s Over/Under, and Benanti will play ...

A new play by Angels in America scribe Tony Kushner is definitely a must-see. Heck, the title alone—The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures—makes us eager for previews to begin on March 22 at the Public Theater. (The play is a joint production by the Public and Signature Theater Company ...

Broadway vet Steven Pasquale has landed the lead in upcoming USA Network pilot Over/Under, according to Deadline.com. He will play Paul, a day trader with a massive gambling problem who is fired from his job six months after a bad trade costs his firm millions. Shut out of the job market, he and his wife move to Brooklyn ...

Complete casting has been announced for the New York premiere of Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures, a collaboration between off-Broadway’s Signature Theater and the Public Theater. The production will begin performances on March 22 at the Public Theater and open on May 5. Michael Greif, who ...