Interview with Alfred Uhry by Kack Gilpin

Academy Award winning screenwriter Alfred Uhry will be interviewed live and in-person by actor Jack Gilpin here at the park on Friday, July 7 at 7:30 pm before the screening of Uhry’s 1989 Oscar-winning film, “Driving Miss Daisy.” The best part? These events are free and open to the public!

Before it was a film, “Driving Miss Daisy” was Uhry’s first play, running for three years and winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. The film version, starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy, won the Academy Award as best film of 1989 and earned Uhry an Oscar for best screenplay.

“Driving Miss Daisy” is a fictional film chronicling the evolution of the relationship between an elderly Jewish woman (Tandy) and her African-American chauffeur (Freeman) in Atlanta beginning in 1948 and spanning the course of 25 years. Uhry himself was born and raised in Atlanta and drew on his own experiences of being Jewish in the American South in the mid-twentieth century when writing the screenplay for this film.

Gilpin is an accomplished stage and screen actor with numerous appearances on film, television and stage productions. He has been in over 30 movies and currently plays Church the Butler in HBO’s historical drama series “The Gilded Age.” He also held a recurring role as defense attorney Jeff Axtell on “Law & Order” from 1995 to 2001.

Uhry and Gilpin are longtime friends from the theater community, and both now reside in Litchfield County. “I’m really looking forward to this event!” says Giplin of his upcoming interview with Uhry.

These events will happen rain or shine; in the case of inclement weather, they will take place inside the park building. BYO blankets, chairs, food and beverages. Leashed pets only.