Israel Horovitz

The prolific American playwright Israel Horovitz enjoyed considerable popularity and critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic for his powerful one-act plays, including "The Indian Wants the Bronx," "It's Called the Sugar Plum," "The Wakefield Plays" cycle, and countless others. The Massachusetts native used his home state as the setting for many of his plays, which also drew on his working-class background to touch on issues of racial and social conflict, family, mortality and the American dream. He made an assured debut in 1967 with the long-running "Line," then earned two Obies for "Indian" and "Sugar Plum," which served as the launching pads for the careers of Al Pacino and Jill Clayburgh. While generating new plays on a near-yearly basis, Horovitz also worked on screenplays for features, including "The Strawberry Statement" (1970) and "Sunshine" (1999), directing French and Italian adaptations of his plays, and eventually directing the feature film "My Old Lady" (2014), based on his 2003 play. Horovitz's long career and dedication to drama at its most real and raw earned him an enduring status as one of America's foremost dramatists. In another demographic, he's better known as the father of Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz of the Beastie Boys.