Richard Abrons: Championing the Old in a New Play
By Henry Street Settlement
Is 87 the new 70? In Richard Abrons’s case, maybe so.
Although retired from his career in investments, Abrons isn’t one to sit home in the rocking chair. (Or take the seats he is offered when he rides the subway.) Instead, his new play (and his fifth to be mounted) is in previews at the Clurman Theater on Theater Row in New York City. Every Day a Visitor – an engaging look at the residents of a dilapidated old-age home in the Bronx — opens on November 14th for a one-month run.
“The play is funny and has a strong message: Don’t look down on people and don’t think they’re not interesting, just because they’re old,” said Abrons.
Abrons, a noted philanthropist and Vice Chairman of Henry Street Settlement’s Board of Directors, has been writing for years – these days his essays can be read in The Huffington Post.
Every Day a Visitor began as a short story, written when Abrons was in his 50s. Published in The North American Review, it won a National Magazine Fiction Award. “At a party celebrating the award, I was asked by a disgruntled editor of The New Yorker why I hadn’t sent the story to The New Yorker,” said Abrons. “I did,” Abrons told the editor.
Two decades later, after earning an MFA degree from NYU in creative writing, Abrons turned a few of his short stories into plays. “My day job was investing in the stock market for clients. That paid the rent but, after 40 years, it began to wear thin,” said Abrons. “Writing was — is — where it’s at. How else to make sense of this world?”
Every Day a Visitor was originally mounted a decade ago and played to sold-out audiences. But problems backstage caused the run not to be extended, a decision Abrons regretted. But when a second chance appeared, he “grabbed it like a brass ring.”
Now in his upper 80s, Abrons is older than everyone in his nine-person cast. “I know a bit about old age. It’s all in the play. Can you make old age, with all its infirmities and death around the corner funny? Really funny?
“Yes you can. Funny and compassionate and heartfelt with a life-goes-on beat,” he said.
Read the review: The New York Times: Who Do You Want to Be (Besides a Playful Codger)?
