Edward Albee (#188) - February, 2008

Multiple Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee talks about the "inadvertent festival" of his works in the New York area, explaining why he declined to allow any synopsis of Me, Myself and I for its production at Princeton's McCarter Theatre, whether The American Dream and The Sandbox at New York's Cherry Lane Theater will look any different than in their original productions, and why we won't see productions of The Zoo Story without its new first act, Home Life. In a wide ranging conversation, he touches upon his approach to playwriting, what he looks for in students seeking to study playwriting with him, the effect of the fame that he achieved from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the experience of being critically out of favor during the 80s and early 90s, the two-decade disparity in ages between the actors who played the leads in the original Seascape and those who took on those roles in the Broadway revival, why we have seen so few films based upon his plays, how he chooses when to direct one of his plays himself, and the unique quality that his two long-time producers share.