The Art Of Risk & Reward Mastered By Tony Kushner

After hearing the symposium students the other day bring up the fact that Kushner took a real chance with his play Caroline, Or Change in regards to a White, Male, and Jewish man writing about the civil rights movement.

I think this was a risk that Kushner should be celebrated for, one many would not have taken. To get to the place that he is at in his play writing career he had to take some risks, most notably the one with Caroline, Or Change.

We heard from the symposium students that he did extensive research, which included interviewing multiple people who had a better grip on the civil rights movement then he did to make his play more believable and real.

This play obviously turned out to be a masterpiece from which he took a risk and he was rewarded from it. The fact that he took a risk, not blindly was one of the keys I believe to this success. He realized the risk he was taking and did not let his ego get in his way, as he took into account others peoples first hand thoughts to better his script. He did not go strictly off his first hand encounters which would have obviously negatively effected the play.

I think its pretty cool what Kushner did with Caroline, Or Change in the way he knew the risk and the grounds he was going into because of his situation and then assessed it and approached it in a way that he knew he could succeed in.