The Old Man and the Play: Friend keeps word to Hemingway

WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) — When the 1958 film adaptation “The Old Man and the Sea” hit theaters, Ernest Hemingway told his close friend A.E. Hotchner that he didn’t like it at all, and urged his writer pal to do his own adaptation someday.

More than 60 years later, Hotchner has kept his word. His stage adaptation of “The Old Man and the Sea” premieres at the newly renovated Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse on Feb. 1.

The 101-year-old playwright and author says it wasn’t until he became an old man himself that he hit on a version that could transport itself beyond the book.

To help reel the project in, he enlisted his son Tim Hotchner to collaborate on it and help transform his draft into what will be performed.

It runs through Feb. 17.