Known as "the King of Off-Broadway", Edward Albee
has shared his talent with regional theaters in the U.S. and abroad since
the late fifties. Since his very first success with The Zoo Story
in 1959 and his fame for such plays as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf,
A Delicate Balance and most recently, Three Tall Women,
Mr. Albee has embraced regional theaters as the natural medium for his
works. In a 1994 interview, he boldly stated that it is a corruption of
the function of regional theaters to be used merely as a tryout house for
Broadway and commercial managements. Regional theaters mean much more to
him, and his works mean a lot to the award committees who have given him
multiple honors such as the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award.
|
| Adopted at two weeks of age by millionaires Reed
and Francis Albee of Washington, D.C. and named after his adoptive grandfather,
a partner in the Keith-Albee Theater Circuit, Edward Albee seemed to have
a future paved with success. At an early age, despite his lack of discipline
(he was kicked out of two schools for cutting classes), young Edward showed
promise as a writer. When he was 12 he had already written several poems
and a sex-farce entitled Aliqueen. The director of admissions
at Choate School in Connecticut recognized Albee's talent, believing he
would distinguish himself in literature. But the path to the success he
now holds wasn't as easy or as predictable as it appeared. Thrown out of
Trinity college during his sophomore year for not taking the classes demanded
of him and disowned by his parents Albee headed to New York with only luck,
chance and his grandmother's small inheritance as his guide. He took a
series of odd jobs while trying to put pen to paper and establish a voice
for his ideas. Serving as his inspiration was the writing of Tennessee
Williams and Thornton Wilder. In 1953 Wilder encouraged Albee to turn his
thoughts from poetry to play writing.
|
Often associated with playwrights Samuel Beckett
and Harold Pinter, Albee is acknowledged as one of the forerunners of the
Absurdist Movement in the theaters of the 1960s. Since those early days
with such companies as "Theatre 1964" at New York's Cherry Lane Theater,
Albee's stylized work has become known for its marked irony and the predominant
themes of rage, despair and alienation. He has said that the impetus of
Three Tall Women was the strained relationship with his own
mother, a former Bergdorf model, who disowned him over his homosexuality.
Albee has said he purged his feelings of rage toward his mother through
the act of writing the play. The irony seems to rest in the fact that the
character of the son remains absolutely silent and free of any rage.
|
| Despite resistance to Albee's style and controversy
over the subject matter of his plays, his talent has gained him international
reputation allowing him to continue to influence the content of theaters
in both the professional and academic worlds. His plays have been translated
in several languages, bringing his work across international borders. He
travelled to Italy to participate in a ten day conference on Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and to Germany (where his writing has
received more academic interest than any other American playwright including
Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill) for the original
production of Zoo Story. He has also travelled to South America
where he lectured at the University of Buenos Aires and he represented
the American State Department during a four week stay in the Soviet Union.
Since the early days of Albee's career, the playwright's talent has been
honored in the U.S. and abroad with a long list of accolades. |
