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Edward Franklin Albee III ( "AWL-bee") (born March 12, 1928) is an American playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
 best known for works, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway theatre at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick....
, The Zoo Story
The Zoo Story

The Zoo Story is American playwright Edward Albee first play; written in 1958 and completed in just three weeks.The play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, social disparity and dehumanization in a commercial world....
, The Sandbox and The American Dream
The American Dream (play)

The American Dream is an early, one-act Play by American playwright Edward Albee. It was first staged 24 January 1961 at the York Playhouse in New York City....
. His works are considered well-crafted, often unsympathetic examinations of the modern condition. His early works reflect a mastery and Americanization of the Theatre of the Absurd
Theatre of the Absurd

The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular Play written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work....
 that found its peak in works by European playwrights such as Jean Genet
Jean Genet

Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial France novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activism. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing....
, Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett

Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish people writer, dramatist and poet. Beckett's work offers a bleak outlook on human culture and both formally and philosophically became increasingly minimalism....
, and Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco

Eug?ne Ionesco, born Eugen Ionescu , was a Romanian and France playwright and dramatist, one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd....
.






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Social protest
Plz,tell me how elbee protest the social problems,in american society,in their own plays?








Quotations


A play is fiction — and fiction is fact distilled into truth.

The New York Times (18 September 1966)

American critics are like American universities. They both have dull and half-dead faculties.

Address to New York Cultural League (6 May 1969)

What people really want in the theater is fantasy involvement and not reality involvement.

Quote (4 June 1967)

One must let the play happen to one; one must let the mind loose to respond as it will, to receive impressions, to sense rather than know, to gather rather than immediately understand.

On his play Tiny Alice, in National Observer (5 April 1965)

I'm not suggesting that the play is without fault; all of my plays are imperfect, I'm rather happy to say — it leaves me something to do.

On his play Tiny Alice, in National Observer (5 April 1965)

Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite.

Saturday Review (4 May 1966)





Encyclopedia


Edward Franklin Albee III ( "AWL-bee") (born March 12, 1928) is an American playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
 best known for works, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway theatre at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick....
, The Zoo Story
The Zoo Story

The Zoo Story is American playwright Edward Albee first play; written in 1958 and completed in just three weeks.The play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, social disparity and dehumanization in a commercial world....
, The Sandbox and The American Dream
The American Dream (play)

The American Dream is an early, one-act Play by American playwright Edward Albee. It was first staged 24 January 1961 at the York Playhouse in New York City....
. His works are considered well-crafted, often unsympathetic examinations of the modern condition. His early works reflect a mastery and Americanization of the Theatre of the Absurd
Theatre of the Absurd

The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular Play written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work....
 that found its peak in works by European playwrights such as Jean Genet
Jean Genet

Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial France novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activism. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing....
, Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett

Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish people writer, dramatist and poet. Beckett's work offers a bleak outlook on human culture and both formally and philosophically became increasingly minimalism....
, and Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco

Eug?ne Ionesco, born Eugen Ionescu , was a Romanian and France playwright and dramatist, one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd....
. Younger American playwrights, such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel

Paula Vogel is an American playwright and university professor. She received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive....
, credit Albee's daring mix of theatricalism and biting dialogue with helping to reinvent the post-war American theatre in the early 1960s. Albee's dedication to continuing to evolve his voice — as evidenced in later productions such as The Goat: or, Who Is Sylvia? (2002) — also routinely marks him as distinct from other American playwrights of his era.

Biography

According to Magill's Survey of American Literature (2007), Edward Albee was born somewhere in Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
 (contrary to the popular belief that he was born in Washington D.C.). He was adopted
Adoption

Adoption is the act of Family law placing a child with a parent or parents other than those to whom they were born. An adoption order has the effect of severing parental responsibilities and rights of the original parent and transferring those responsibilities and rights to the adoptive parent....
 two weeks later and taken to Westchester County, New York
Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a primarily suburban Political subdivisions of New York State#County located in the U.S. state of New York with about 950,000 residents....
. Albee's adoptive father, Reed A. Albee
Reed A. Albee

Reed A. Albee was a theatre owner.He was the son of Edward Franklin Albee II , who was a vaudeville impresario. He had a sister: Ethel Albee ....
 — himself the son of vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
 magnate Edward Franklin Albee II
Edward Franklin Albee II

Edward Franklin Albee II was a vaudeville impresario, and the adoptive grandfather of Edward Franklin Albee III, the playwright.He was born in Machias, Maine to Edward Franklin Albee I....
 — owned several theaters, where young Edward first gained familiarity with the theatre as a child. His adoptive mother was Reed's third wife, Frances.

Albee attended the Rye Country Day School
Rye Country Day School

For the RCDS that stands for the Royal College of Defence Studies, please click Royal College of Defence Studies.Rye Country Day School, or RCDS, is a co-educational, college preparatory school in Rye , New York, New York State, in the United States....
 in New York, then the Lawrenceville School
Lawrenceville School

The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational, independent University-preparatory school boarding school for grades 9-12 located on in the historic community of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States five miles southwest of Princeton, New Jersey....
 in New Jersey, where he was expelled. He then was sent to Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania
Wayne, Pennsylvania

Wayne is an unincorporated area community and a United States Postal Service located on the Pennsylvania Main Line, centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States....
, where he graduated in 1945 at the age of 17. He next enrolled in the graduate studies program at Choate
Choate Rosemary Hall

Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut. From its shared roots over a century ago as The Choate School and Rosemary Hall, through their merger in 1974, Choate Rosemary Hall is part of The Ten Schools Admissions Organization, along with several other New Englan...
 prep school in Connecticut, graduating in 1946. His formal education continued at Trinity College
Trinity College (Connecticut)

Trinity College is a private, Liberal arts colleges in the United States in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University....
 in Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the Capital of the Connecticut. It is located in Hartford County, Connecticut on the Connecticut River, north of the center of the state, south of Springfield, Massachusetts....
, where he was expelled in 1947 for skipping classes and refusing to attend compulsory chapel.

Albee left home for good when he was in his late teens, later saying in an interview: "I never felt comfortable with the adoptive parents. I don't think they knew how to be parents. I probably didn't know how to be a son, either." More recently, he told interviewer Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose

Charlie Rose is an American television interviewer and journalist.Since 1991, he has hosted Butterfield, an interview Television show produced by the New York metropolitan area public broadcasting#Television television station WNET....
 that he was "thrown out" because his parents wanted him to become a "corporate thug", and didn't approve of his aspirations to become a writer.

The less than diligent student later dedicated much of his time to promoting American university theatre, frequently speaking at campuses and serving as a distinguished professor at the University of Houston
University of Houston

The University of Houston is a public, coeducational, research university located in Houston. It is the flagship institution and the central administrative headquarters of the University of Houston System—a state system of higher education which governs four separate universities and two multi-institution teaching centers....
 from 1989 to 2003.

A member of the Dramatists Guild Council, Albee has received three Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is an United States award regarded as the highest national honor in newspaper journalism, literary achievements and musical composition....
s for drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama

The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than being the calendar year....
 — for A Delicate Balance
A Delicate Balance

A Delicate Balance is a play by Edward Albee first produced on Broadway theatre at the Martin Beck Theatre on 12 September 1966. The production ran four months....
 (1967), Seascape
Seascape (play)

Seascape is a Play by United States playwright Edward Albee. Directed by Albee himself, the production opened on Broadway on January 26, 1975, at the Shubert Theatre , starring Deborah Kerr, Barry Nelson, Maureen Anderman and Frank Langella....
 (1975), Three Tall Women
Three Tall Women

Three Tall Women is a play by Edward Albee, which won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Albee's third....
 (1994); a Special Tony Award
Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live United States theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City....
 for Lifetime Achievement (2005); the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1980); as well as the Kennedy Center Honors
Kennedy Center Honors

The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for theirlifetime of contributions to Culture of the United States....
 and the National Medal of Arts
National Medal of Arts

The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the Congress of the United States in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts....
 (both in 1996).

Albee is the President of the Edward F. Albee Foundation, Inc.
Edward F. Albee Foundation, Inc.

The Edward F. Albee Foundation was started by its namesake, playwright Edward Albee, in 1967, after revenue from his play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? proved abundant....
, which maintains the William Flanagan Creative Persons Center, a writers and artists colony in Montauk, New York
Montauk, New York

Montauk is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, New York on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the hamlet population was 3,851....
. Albee's longtime partner, Jonathan Thomas, a sculptor, died on May 2, 2005, the result of a two year-long battle with bladder cancer
Bladder cancer

Bladder cancer refers to any of several types of malignant growths of the urinary bladder. It is a disease in which abnormal cells multiply without control in the bladder....
.

In 2008, in celebration of his eightieth birthday, numerous Albee plays are being mounted in distinguished Off Broadway venues, including the historic Cherry Lane Theatre
Cherry Lane Theatre

The Cherry Lane Theatre, located at 38 Commerce Street in the borough of Manhattan, is New York City's oldest, continuously running off-Broadway theater....
, where the playwright himself is directing two of his one-acts, The American Dream and The Sandbox, which were produced at the theater in 1961 and 1962, respectively.

Plays

  • The Zoo Story
    The Zoo Story

    The Zoo Story is American playwright Edward Albee first play; written in 1958 and completed in just three weeks.The play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, social disparity and dehumanization in a commercial world....
     (1958)
  • The Death of Bessie Smith
    The Death of Bessie Smith

    The Death of Bessie Smith is a 1959 one-act play by American playwright Edward Albee, written in 1959 and premiered in West Berlin the following year....
     (1959)
  • The Sandbox (1959)
  • Fam and Yam (1959)
  • The American Dream
    The American Dream (play)

    The American Dream is an early, one-act Play by American playwright Edward Albee. It was first staged 24 January 1961 at the York Playhouse in New York City....
     (1960)
  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
    Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

    Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway theatre at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick....
     (1961-62)
  • The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
    The Ballad of the Sad Cafe

    Sorry, no overview for this topic
     (1963) (adapted from the novella
    Novella

    A novella is a writing, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. While there is disagreement as to what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000....
     by Carson McCullers
    Carson McCullers

    Carson McCullers was an United States writer. She wrote novels, short stories, and two plays, as well as essays and some poetry. Her first novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts of the U.S....
    )
  • Tiny Alice
    Tiny Alice

    Tiny Alice, a Act #Three Act Play Play written by Edward Albee, premiered on Broadway theatre at the Billy Rose Theatre on December 29, 1964....
     (1964)
  • Malcolm (1965) (adapted from the novel
    Novel

    File:2009 stapelweise Neuerscheinungen im Buchladen.JPGA novel is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern Romance and in the tradition of the novella....
     by James Purdy
    James Purdy

    James Otis Purdy is a controversial United States novelist, short story-writer, poet, and playwright who since his debut has published over a dozen novels, and several collections of poetry, short stories, and plays....
    )
  • A Delicate Balance
    A Delicate Balance

    A Delicate Balance is a play by Edward Albee first produced on Broadway theatre at the Martin Beck Theatre on 12 September 1966. The production ran four months....
     (1966)
  • Breakfast at Tiffany's
    Breakfast at Tiffany's (musical)

    Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of the most notorious failure in the history of Broadway theatre musical theatre.Based on the Truman Capote novella and Breakfast at Tiffany's about a free spirit named Holly Golightly, it had a book by illustrious playwright Edward Albee and a score composed by the equally notable Bob Merrill....
     (1966)
  • Everything in the Garden
    Everything In The Garden

    Everything in the Garden is a Play by Giles Cooper, first produced by Royal Shakespeare Company on 13 March1962 at the Arts Theatre, London....
     (1967)
  • Box (1968)
  • All Over (1971)
  • Seascape
    Seascape (play)

    Seascape is a Play by United States playwright Edward Albee. Directed by Albee himself, the production opened on Broadway on January 26, 1975, at the Shubert Theatre , starring Deborah Kerr, Barry Nelson, Maureen Anderman and Frank Langella....
     (1974)
  • Listening (1975)
  • Counting the Ways (1976)
  • The Lady From Dubuque
    The Lady From Dubuque

    The Lady from Dubuque, a play by Edward Albee, opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on January 31, 1980. It closed there after a mere 12 performances....
     (1977-79)
  • Lolita
    LOLITA

    LOLITA is a natural language processing system developed by Durham University between 1986 and 2000. The name is an acronym for "Large-scale, Object-based, Linguistics Interactor, Machine translation and Analyzer"....
     (adapted from the novel by Vladimir Nabokov
    Vladimir Nabokov

    Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a Multilingualism Russian-American novelist and short story writer.Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian language, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist....
    ) (1981)
  • The Man Who Had Three Arms
    The Man Who Had Three Arms

    This is a two-act play for three actors by Edward Albee.The play takes place in a theatre where the main character HIMSELF is about to speak to the assembled group about his life of celebrity as The Man Who Had Three Arms....
     (1981)
  • Finding the Sun (1982)
  • Marriage Play
    Marriage Play

    Marriage Play is a drama for two actors by Edward Albee.The play opens with a blow. Jack enters home and informs his wife, that after thirty years of being married to her he intends to leave....
     (1986-87)
  • Three Tall Women
    Three Tall Women

    Three Tall Women is a play by Edward Albee, which won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Albee's third....
     (1990-91)
  • The Lorca Play (1992)
  • Fragments (1993)
  • The Play About the Baby
    The Play About the Baby

    The Play About the Baby is a play by Edward Albee. It was first performed in 1998 by the Almeida Theatre Company in Malvern, Worcestershire, directed by Howard Davies....
     (1996)
  • The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (2002)
  • Occupant (2001)
  • Knock! Knock! Who's There!? (2003)
  • Peter & Jerry
    Peter & Jerry

    Peter & Jerry is a play by Edward Albee which adds a first act to his 1958 play The Zoo Story. This first act, also called Homelife, revolves around the marriage of Peter and Ann and ends with Peter leaving to go read a book in Central Park....
     (Act One: Homelife. Act Two: The Zoo Story) (2004)
  • Me, Myself and I (2007)


Non Dramatic Writings

  • Stretching My Mind: Essays 1960-2005 (Avalon Publishing, 2005)


Quotes

  • "What could be worse than getting to the end of your life and realizing you hadn't lived it?"
  • "A usefully lived life is probably going to be, ultimately, more satisfying."
  • "Writing should be useful. If it can't instruct people a little bit more about the responsibilities of consciousness there's no point in doing it."
  • "If you're willing to fail interestingly, you tend to succeed interestingly."
  • "That's what happens in plays, yes? The shit hits the fan."
  • "Creativity is magic. Don't examine it too closely."


Discography

  • Mark Richman & William Daniels in The Zoo Story by Edward Albee - Directed by Arthur Luce Klein (LP, Spoken Arts SA 808)


Awards and nominations

Awards
  • 1960 Drama Desk Award Vernon Rice Award - The Zoo Story
  • 1963 Tony Award for Best Play - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  • 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - A Delicate Balance
  • 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Seascape
  • 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Three Tall Women
  • 1996 National Medal of Arts
  • 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play - The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
  • 2002 Tony Award for Best Play - The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
  • 2005 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement
  • 2008 Drama Desk Award Special Award


Nominations
  • 1964 Tony Award for Best Play - The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
  • 1965 Tony Award for Best Author of a Play - Tiny Alice
  • 1965 Tony Award for Best Play - Tiny Alice
  • 1967 Tony Award for Best Play - A Delicate Balance
  • 1975 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play - Seascape
  • 1975 Tony Award for Best Play - Seascape
  • 1976 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  • 1994 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play - Three Tall Women
  • 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - The Play About the Baby
  • 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
  • 2005 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?


The Pulitzer Prize committee for the Best Play in 1963 recommended Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway theatre at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick....
, but the Pulitzer board, who have sole discretion in awarding the prize, rejected the recommendation, due to the play's perceived vulgarity, and no award was given instead.

External links