''Nuts'' is a 1979 play by

Tom Topor Tom Topor (born 1938) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Topor was born in Vienna, Austria, and he was brought to London in 1939, where he remained until he came to New York City in 1949. He earned his bachelor's degree at Br ...

. The play is a courtroom drama, suspense, and psychological drama which explores issues of sexual abuse, family and social power dynamics, and aspects of the criminal court system. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1987, starring

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

and

Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss ( ; Dreyfus; born October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He emerged from the New Hollywood wave of American cinema, finding fame with a succession of leading man parts in the 1970s. He has received an Academy Award, a ...

Plot

When strong-willed, high-class

call girl A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who (unlike a street prostitution, street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by ...

Claudia Draper is indicted for manslaughter in the first degree after killing a client in self-defense, her mother Rose and stepfather Arthur attempt to have her declared mentally incompetent, which would prevent a trial and cause Claudia to be institutionalized. Public defender Aaron Levinsky is assigned to her case, but Claudia is angry and distrustful of everybody, and she resists his help, disrupting both her examinations by psychiatrist Herbert Rosenthal and her court hearings. As findings progress, new insights into Claudia's entire life experience, including sexual abuse by her stepfather, begin to surface.

Background

''Nuts'' takes place in the courtroom in the psychiatric wing of Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Tom Torpor used his years of experience as a journalist covering New York City police stations, courtrooms, hospitals, and psychiatric wards in crafting the play.Nickens, Christopher and Karen Swenson
''The Films of Barbra Streisand''.
Citadel Press, 2001. , p. 174. He derived the mental illness plot from a true-life incident he had reported in the early 1970s, and he also questioned his wife about her incestuous childhood, which provided the lead character's motivation to become a prostitute.Kimbrell, James
''Barbra: An Actress Who Sings''.
Boston: Branden Publishing Company, 1989. , pp. 9-17.

Production

''Nuts'' was produced in an early draft form at the Off-Off Broadway WPA Theater in 1979.

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

purchased the film rights and financed the play's move to Broadway. Following eight previews, it opened at the Biltmore Theatre on April 28, 1980, where it ran for 96 performances and closed on July 20. Directed by Stephen Zuckerman, who had directed the original production, it starred Anne Twomey as Claudia, Richard Zobel as Aaron Levinsky, Hansford Rowe as Arthur Kirk,

Lenka Peterson Lenka Peterson (born Betty Ann Isacson; October 16, 1925 – September 24, 2021) was an American theater, film, and television actress. Early years Peterson was born in Omaha, Nebraska, a daughter of Swedish and Hungarian immigrants. Her father w ...

as Rose Kirk, Paul Stolarsky as Dr. Rosenthal, and Ed Van Nuys as Judge Murdoch. Anne Twomey won the Theatre World Award and was nominated for the

Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actresses for quality leading roles in a Broa ...

, and Hansford Rowe was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

Film adaptation

Tom Topor, Darryl Ponicsan, and Alvin Sargent adapted the play for the 1987 film of the same title, directed by

Martin Ritt Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director, producer, and actor, active in film, theatre and television. He was known mainly as an auteur of socially-conscious dramas and literary adaptations, described by Stanley K ...

and starring

and

References

External links

* {{ibdb title, 3948, Nuts
''Nuts'': A Play in Three Acts
on GoogleBooks 1979 plays Courtroom drama plays Off-Broadway plays Broadway plays American plays adapted into films Plays set in New York City Plays set in courtrooms