The theater and literary crowds mixed at a downtown tribute to the late writer, poet, and lyricist Dorothy Parker — the original Sex & The City woman — whose ribald wit, humor, and turn of a pun made her one of the most successful writers of her time. What Fresh Hell is This? — An Evening of Dorothy Parker, at the Tribeca Rooftop, was sponsored by Martha Nelson and People, and benefitted the Drama Dept., an off-Broadway theater group. The evening included selections from Parker’s best works, read by: Edie Falco, Cynthia Nixon, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Charles Busch, and Bebe Neuwirth. Other stellar talent: Nancy Giles, Debbie Gravitte, Jessica Hecht, Amy Hohn, Isaac Mizrahi, Matthew and Cari Modine, Karen Ziemba, Judy Kuhn, Amy Ryan, Oni Faida Lampley, Jessica Stone, Douglas Carter Beane, Anne Kaufman Schneider, and Richard Smason.

Each selection uniquely captured the clever, ageless wisdom of Parker, who was Academy Award-nominated for the screenplays of A Star Is Born (1938) and for Smash Up: The Story of a Woman (1948), and contributed to the lyrics for the Broadway play Candide (1956). From an excerpt read by Kitty Carlisle Hart: “You can tell what God thinks of money by the kind of people he gives it to.” And, a few quotes that we chose to close this piece: “You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks,” and “I don’t care what is written about me so long as it isn’t true.”