In “The Revisionist,” playing through April 27 in a Rattlestick Playwrights Theater production, Jesse Eisenberg, the play’s author, stars as David, a young American who goes to visit a second cousin in Poland, where he hopes to finish work on his science-fiction novel. The cousin, Maria, played by Vanessa Redgrave, is harboring deep secrets. During a recent interview at the 179-seat Cherry Lane Theater, where the play is being staged Off Broadway, Mr. Eisenberg and Ms. Redgrave sat on a well-worn sofa that looked as if it might have been dragged out of a freshman-floor TV lounge.

Mr. Eisenberg, chatty in a more controlled way than the nervously verbose characters he often plays, went rapt when Ms. Redgrave talked about the play and her performance. Ms. Redgrave, friendly but visibly reserved, would occasionally reach out and gently touch his arm after he delivered a compliment. Below are excerpts from the conversation.

Q. This is the first play you had worked on as a writer, even though “Asuncion” was produced in 2011. Was there an initial hitch that made you put this script aside?

JESSE EISENBERG One of the hitches was trying to get it to Vanessa. When I had written it, I had seen her [on Broadway] in “The Year of Magical Thinking,” and I just got it stuck in my mind that she had to do it.