Renowned playwright, screenwriter, and director Israel Horovitz will be joined by Academy Award-winning star of stage and screen Estelle Parsons for an evening of reading and discussion of Horovitz’s new book, MY OLD LADY: Complete Stage Play and Screenplay with an Essay on Adaptation (2016, Three Rooms Press). The event will be at Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow Street (at 7th Avenue) in New York City, Monday, April 18, 7 p.m. The $15 admission fee includes a free, signed copy of the book.

At the event, Horovitz and Parsons will read and discuss scenes from both stage and screen versions of MY OLD LADY. 

Parsons, who won an Oscar for her role in Bonnie and Clyde, recently starred in a critically-acclaimed staging of MY OLD LADY at Palm Beach Dramaworks. The Wall Street Journal had high praise for the play and Parsons, calling it “Magic . . . beautifully drawn characters . . . Estelle Parsons has amazing energy and forcefulness . . .” Parsons will soon star in Horovitz’s new play, “Out of the Mouths of Babes” at Cherry Lane Theatre June 7 through July 17.

In 2014, at the age of 74, Horovitz adapted MY OLD LADY as a film—starring Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith, and Kristin Scott Thomas—which he also directed. RogerEbert.com called the film version “A revelation and a pleasure.”

In the new book, scripts for the play and film are bridged with a lengthy essay in which Horovitz shares his insights into the creative process and knowledge gained while transforming the spoken language of the stage to the visual language of the screen. Barnet Kellmen, film director and professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, notes that, “Adapting a play to the screen can be a perilous undertaking . . . Luckily Israel Horovitz is the perfect guide . . . “

Tickets for the event are $15 and can be purchased in advance or at the door. For ticketing information and additional details, visit ThreeRoomsPress.