By Ernio Hernandez
20 Oct 2004
Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon will play Laura Bush in a reading of Tony Kushner's Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy at the Long Wharf Theatre, Oct. 25.
The provocative Kushner work has been presented at numerous benefits and was recently read at an Aug. 2 event with John Cameron Mitchell as the First Lady with Patricia Clarkson and Kristen Johnston also taking part. Kushner — who was in attendance — had also penned a scene for the unfinished work which Kushner said would hopefully be "outdated" very soon.
Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy explores the issues of "political morality and moral relativity," according to a release. In the work, Laura Bush reads Dostoevsky to the pajama-clad ghosts of Iraqi children. References to Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and other Bush administration notables fill the work.
Sarandon is known for her film work in such films as "Thelma & Louise," "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Bull Durham" "Dead Man Walking" — for which she earned her Oscar win. The actress frequently makes appearances on the stage, having been seen in Autobahn, The Guys and The Exonerated. She is also set to star in the upcoming screen version of the latter play as well as the John Turturro musical "Romance & Cigarettes."
For tickets to Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy at the Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive in New Haven, CT, call (203) 787-4282 or (800) 782-8497. For more information, visit and online at www.LongWharf.org.
