Israel Horovitz

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Israel Horovitz (born March 31, 1939 in Wakefield, Massachusetts) is an American playwright and screenwriter.

Horovitz has written more than 50 produced plays, most noteably "Line" and "Indian Wants the Bronx". The 1982 film Author! Author!, written by Horovitz and directed by Arthur Hiller, is a largely autobiographical account of a playwright dealing with the stress of having his play produced on Broadway while trying to raise a large family. Horovitz greatly admired the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett and for his own work often found in Beckett a thematic and stylistic model and inspiration, though seldom approaching the spare richness of the original. A typical Horovitz play often revolves around a symbolic or situational gimmick, resulting in theater that is more clever than brilliant, and more catchy than enduring. Horovitz wrote the screenplay for The Strawberry Statement (1970), a movie adapted from a journalistic novel by James Simon Kunen that deals with the student political unrest of the 1960s; he also appeared in a cameo role in the movie.

Israel was the founding artistic director of the Gloucester Stage Company at in Gloucester, MA in 1979. After 27 years, Israel will be retiring in December of 2006. A tribute series in his honor will be presented by the Gloucester Stage Company during their 2006 season. [1]

Horovitz has five children: film-executive Rachael Horovitz, novelist/film editor Matthew Horovitz, Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, and twins Hannah and Oliver Horovitz. His wife is Gillian Adams-Horovitz, former British National Marathon Champion.