Held at Radio City Music Hall, the SVA commencement open only to students and invited guests. The ceremony will be broadcast at SVA.edu/Commencement. Previous speakers have included Edward Albee, B.D. Wong, Ronan Tynan and Frank Rich. A Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner for Angels in America, Kushner also penned Short Talks on the Universe, A Bright Room Called Day, Slavs!, Hydriotaphia, Homebody/Kabul, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures and the book to the Tony-nominated musical Caroline, or Change. The Signature Theatre Company will present repertory productions of Angels in America Off-Broadway in September. His adaptations include of Corneille's The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan and Mother Courage.

Kushner is also the recipient of two Obie Awards for Best Play, an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the PEN/Laura Pels Award for a Mid-Career Playwright, a Spirit of Justice Award from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a Cultural Achievement Award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture and the 2008 Harold and Mimi Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award.