Israel Horovitz Radio Plays
Israel Horovitz, born in Massachussetts in 1939, is an award-winning
writer with dozens of stage plays produced since the 1970s. In
addition to his many U.S. productions, he is also the most-produced
American playwright in French theatre history. The best-known of his
children is Adam Horovitz, one of the members of the Beastie Boys
music group. His third wife is Gillian Adams-Horovitz, former British
National Marathon Champion and record-holder.
"Israel Horovitz is primarily a writer of stage plays on and off
Broadway, with some key screenplays to his credit. The actor Al
Pacino first made an impact in one of Israel's earliest plays, and
Israel has for many years spent the summers running his own theatre
in Gloucester, Massachussetts. He became attracted to the imaginative
world of radio through his friendship with a studio manager at the
BBC, Anne Bunting, and has since thrown people off the Empire State
Building, and placed himself as an actor on the highest mountain in
North America under the glow of the Northern Lights." (taken from Ned
Chaillet's intro. to the BBC7 repeat of Man In Snow)
22.02.96 The Chips are Down
29.12.97 Fighting over Beverley
03.02.98 *Phone Tag
15.06.98 Stations of the Cross
19.12.00 *Man in Snow
12.09.03 *Speaking Well Of The Dead
05.08.04 *Free Gift
NOTES
THE CHIPS ARE DOWN ....1996
22 Feb 1996, Thirty Minute Theatre
Horovitz co-stars in his in a comedy of anxiety. In New York City,
Jeffrey struggles with a magazine article, the new call-waiting
service on his telephone, a suicidal friend and distractions from
homeless men outside his apartment. With Nicky Henson, Frances
Tomelty and Alice Arnold. Directed by Ned Chaillet.
FIGHTING OVER BEVERLEY ....1997
29 December 1997, The Monday Play, 90 minutes
A Yorkshireman belatedly flies to America to reclaim the war bride
taken from him by an American war hero 45 years earlier. With
Rosemary Harris, Ian Carmichael, Elizabeth McGovern and Israel
Horovitz. Directed by Ned Chaillet.
PHONE TAG ....1998
3 Feb 1998, Thirty Minute Theatre
In a world of answerphones, love is kept on the hook and mayhem is
unleashed in the intercontinental game of phone tag. With John
Guerassio, Elizabeth Mansfield and Doreen Mantle. Directed by Ned
Chaillet.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS ....1998
15 June 1998, Afternoon Play, 45 minutes
David has returned from America, the land of his father, to make a
farcical, poetic rail crossing of England to the home of his sister -
and to an unforgettable funeral. With Israel Horovitz, Nicky Henson
and Joanna Monro. Directed by Ned Chaillet.
MAN IN SNOW....2000
19 December 2000, Afternoon Play, 45 minutes
Under the Northern Lights, halfway up the highest mountain in Alaska,
David Kipling is in charge of 20 honeymoon couples busy trying to
conceive. In solitude, he rings his wife and seeks to conjure up the
son who died two years previously. "For the actress Marcia Warren,
one of radio's most gifted contributors, the story is a love story,
for her husband on the mountain. For the man in snow himself, it is a
spiritual crisis." (Ned Chaillet) With Israel Horovitz, Marcia
Warren, Dick Vosburgh and Burt Kwouk. Directed by Ned Chaillet. The
play won a Sony Drama Award in 2001.
SPEAKING WELL OF THE DEAD ...2003
12 September 2003, The Friday Play, 60 minutes
Penelope speaks well of her husband, who was killed at the World
Trade Center, and her daughter, Willa, wants to speak the truth. It
would mean killing her father again. ("Horovitz lives in lower
Manhattan and has written directly of the impact of September 11th,
notably in his film Three Weeks After Paradise, which was his
testimony about his family's experiences after the terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center. In Speaking Well of the Dead, produced for
the BBC in 2003, his thoughts are with the survivors and their duty
to the memory of those killed." BBC publicity) Stars Jill Clayburgh,
Lily Rabe and Israel Horovitz.
FREE GIFT ....2004
05 August 2004, Afternoon Play, 45 minutes
An Englishwoman in New York who found the most wonderful gift when a
child was left on her doorstep lives in fear that the gift might be
taken away. Stars Maureen Lipman. Directed by Ned Chaillet.
THINKING EARTH: AN ABC OF THE NIGHT ...2005
01 January 2005, Radio 3
Horovitz contributed the segment "G is for Greenwich Village"
asterisked plays known to exist in VRPCC collections
Greg Linden / Diversity website
