I'm Not Rappaport

I'M Not Rappaport (1985), a play by Herb Gardner. [ Booth Theatre, 890 perf.; Tony Award.] Two very old men, Nat (Judd Hirsch), a Jew who constantly makes up stories about his imaginary pasts, and Midge (Cleavon Little), an African American who has little time for Nat's lies but nowhere else to go, regularly occupy adjacent benches in Central Park. Callous or interfering people or even vicious muggers sometimes interrupt their conversations, which seem destined to go on until one of the men dies. A slight, ingratiating play, it exemplified a vogue for light pieces pitting a somewhat eccentric Jew against a more down‐to‐earth black, as did the later Driving Miss Daisy. A 2002 Broadway revival with Hirsch reprising his Nat was short‐lived.

Herb Gardner
1986

Herb Gardner's I'm Not Rappaport was first published in 1986 in New York. Gardner first got the idea for the play when he was writing in New York's Central Park. He witnessed two animated old men, one white and one black, who would alternate between sitting quietly and yelling at each other. This strange friendship intrigued Gardner, who used it as the basis for I'm Not Rappaport's two main characters, Nat and Midge. The play caused a stir when it was first produced on Broadway. The unique characters of Nat and Midge and their feisty resilience to the world around them, made the play a hit. These unlikely heroes try to mask the horrible realities of aging, mainly through the tall tales and deceptions that Nat creates. The play touched on several contemporary issues when it was produced, including society's treatment of the elderly and the dangers that lurked in urban areas like New York. Although Gardner has had great success with his many stage plays and screenplays, I'm Not Rappaport is one of his best-known and most popular works. It experienced a revival in New York in 2002, which once again featured Judd Hirsch in his original role as Nat.

A current copy of I'm Not Rappaport can be found in Herb Gardner: The Collected Plays, which was published by Applause Theatre Book Publishing in 2000.

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