If a well-planned theatrical event were a slot machine, Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater would be up to its roofline in nickels. Its April 18-June 28 Kushner Celebration, which featured three special productions of plays by Tony (“Angels in America”) Kushner as well as talks and classes about the playwright and his work, accomplished something astonishing in this awful economic period: It met goals for ticket sales, attracted 90,000 visitors from around the nation and world and drew press attention from the New York Times  to the Minnesota Monthly. 

The rich rewards of the Guthrie’s creative dare may have an even farther-reaching result: They may startle other arts organizations awake with the realization that hard times are the right times to increase artistic invention and marketing efforts – not cut back on them. 

“Recession, depression … that’s the time to take artistic risks, do work that’s engaging and compelling,” said Guthrie communications director Melodie Bahan by phone yesterday from her office in the theater’s stunning, three-year-old riverfront building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.

She called ticket sales for the celebration “thrilling” – especially because the Guthrie, like many other theaters, has had to substantially reduce costs in recent months.  

But the company was determined to go ahead with the complex Kushner event that artistic director Joe Dowling had been planning for years. “Ever since Joe Dowling first envisioned this new building, he had the idea that this would be the perfect venue” for a themed festival of plays, Bahan said.

Kushner and his work were Dowling’s first choice for the focus of the event. The Guthrie commissioned the playwright to create The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures and to literarily knit together several of his existing short pieces in a work he titled Tiny Kushner. Those plays were produced, along with Kushner’s 2004 Broadway musical, Caroline, or Change, during the 10-week celebration, which also saw Kushner awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Minnesota. 

The programming was first and foremost an artistic project that focused an “unprecedented” level of attention and exploration on one writer, Bahan said. But, she added, even though offering local audiences a unique experience of  intellectual and emotional substance was the top priority, “we also knew something like this would be a theatrical event that would attract attention … outside the Twin Cities.” 

They were right: People came from all 50 states, from Canada, Europe and Japan to experience the Guthrie and spend their money in the Twin Cities; Tiny Kushner was “wildly successful,” Bahan noted; and all over the city, the Kushner Celebration was the topic of conversation. Despite the financial and artistic risks – Kushner is a lot edgier than Rodgers and Hammerstein – the Guthrie board of directors fully supported the project.

 The event’s combination of team effort and terrific art worked so well that the Guthrie is considering doing something else like it before long.  

“Joe was absolutely right,” Bahan said of Dowling. “This building, this institution, works great at this kind of celebration. It’s really exciting to think of doing it again.”      

Photo by Michal Daniel / Courtesy of the Guthrie Theater

Michael Esper, left, and Stephen Spinella in the Guthrie Theater world premiere of Tony Kushner’s play “The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.”