Editing Edward Albee

{{Short description|American playwright (1928–2016)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
|image = Edward Albee, 1975.jpg
|caption = Albee in 1975
|birth_name = Edward Franklin Albee III
|birth_date = {{birth date|1928|3|12}}
|death_date = {{death date and age|2016|9|16|1928|3|12}}
|birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
|death_place = [[Montauk, New York]], U.S.
|partner = {{longitem|Jonathan Thomas <br>({{abbr|esp.|espoused}} 1971; died 2005)}}
|education = [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity College]]
|period = 1958–2016
|notableworks = {{flatlist|class=nowraplinks|
* ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]''
* ''[[The Zoo Story]]''
* ''[[A Delicate Balance (play)|A Delicate Balance]]''
* ''[[The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?]]''
* ''[[Three Tall Women]]''
}}
|awards = {{plainlist|
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]
* [[Tony Award for Best Play]]
* [[National Medal of Arts]]
* [[Special Tony Award]]
* [[America Award in Literature]]
}}
}}
'''Edward Franklin Albee III''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɔː|l|b|iː}} {{respell|AWL|bee}}; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''[[The Zoo Story]]'' (1958), ''[[The Sandbox (play)|The Sandbox]]'' (1959), ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' (1962), ''[[A Delicate Balance (play)|A Delicate Balance]]'' (1966), and ''[[Three Tall Women]]'' (1994). Some critics have argued that some of his work constitutes an American variant of what [[Martin Esslin]] identified as and named the [[Theater of the Absurd]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|title=Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Arts|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00norw|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0198691372|location=USA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00norw/page/10 10]}}</ref> Three of his plays won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] and two of his other works won the [[Tony Award for Best Play]].

His works are often considered frank examinations of the modern condition. His early works reflect a mastery and Americanization of the Theatre of the Absurd that found its peak in works by European playwrights such as [[Samuel Beckett]], [[Eugène Ionesco]], and [[Jean Genet]].

His middle period comprised plays that explored the psychology of maturing, marriage  and sexual relationships. Younger American playwrights, such as [[Paula Vogel]], credit Albee's mix of theatricality and biting dialogue with helping to reinvent postwar American theatre in the early 1960s. Later in life, Albee continued to experiment in works such as ''[[The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?]]'' (2002).

==Early life==
Edward Albee was born in 1928. His biological father left his mother, Louise Harvey, and he was placed for adoption two weeks later and taken to Larchmont, New York, where he grew up.<ref>{{cite web |title=Edward Albee {{!}} American author {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-Albee |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=September 13, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Albee's adoptive father, [[Reed A. Albee]], the wealthy son of [[vaudeville]] magnate [[Edward Franklin Albee II|Edward Franklin Albee&nbsp;II]], owned several theaters. His adoptive mother, Reed's second wife, Frances (Cotter), was a socialite.<ref name="TimesObit">{{cite news|last1=Weber|first1=Bruce|title=Edward Albee, Trenchant Playwright for a Desperate Era, Dies at 88|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/arts/edward-albee-playwright-of-a-desperate-generation-dies-at-88.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 17, 2016}}</ref><ref name="theguardianobit">{{cite news|title=Edward Albee, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? playwright, dies aged 88|first=Vanessa|last=Thorpe|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/16/edward-albee-dies-playwright-whos-afraid-virginia-woolf|access-date=September 17, 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|date=September 17, 2016}}</ref> He later based the main character of his 1991 play ''[[Three Tall Women]]'' on his mother, with whom he had a conflicted relationship.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/15/specials/albee-larchmont.html|title=Albee Mines His Larchmont Childhood|first=Dan| last=Markowitz|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 28, 1994|access-date=March 8, 2017}}</ref>

Albee attended the Rye Country Day School, then the [[Lawrenceville School]] in New Jersey, from which he was expelled.<ref name="TimesObit" /> He then was sent to [[Valley Forge Military Academy]] in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where he was dismissed in less than a year.<ref name="Playbill-obit">{{cite web|author-link1=Robert Simonson|last1=Simonson|first1=Robert|title=Edward Albee, Towering American Playwright, Dies at 88|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/edward-albee-towering-american-playwright-dies-at-88|website=Playbill|date=September 16, 2016|access-date=September 17, 2016}}</ref> He enrolled at [[The Choate School]] (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in [[Wallingford, Connecticut]],<ref name="latimesobit">{{cite news|last1=Boehm|first1=Mike|title=Edward Albee, three-time Pulitzer-winning playwright and 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' author, dies at 88|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-edward-albee-obit-20160916-snap-story.html|access-date=September 17, 2016|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=September 16, 2016}}</ref> graduating in 1946.  He had attracted theatre attention by having scripted and published nine poems, eleven short stories, essays, a long act play, ''Schism'', and a 500-page novel, ''The Flesh of Unbelievers'' (Horn, 1) in 1946. His formal education continued at [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity College]] in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was expelled in 1947 for skipping classes and refusing to attend compulsory chapel.<ref name="latimesobit"/>

Albee left home for good in his late teens. In a later interview, he said: "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."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-albee/#interview |title=Edward Albee Interview |publisher=Academy of Achievement |date=June 2, 2005 |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref> In a 1994 interview, he said he left home at 18 because "[he] had to get out of that stultifying, suffocating environment."<ref name=":0" /> In 2008, he told interviewer [[Charlie Rose]] that he was "thrown out" because his parents wanted him to become a "corporate thug" and did not approve of his aspirations to be a writer.<ref>{{Charlie Rose view|1004}}, May 27, 2008.</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Edward Albee.jpg|upright|thumb|left|160px|Edward Albee, photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]], 1961]]
===1959–1966: The Early Plays===
Albee moved into New York's [[Greenwich Village]],<ref name="Playbill-obit" /> where he supported himself with odd jobs while learning to write plays.<ref name="CBC-obit">{{cite news|last1=Kennedy|first1=Mark|title=Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? playwright Edward Albee dead at 88|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/edward-albee-obit-1.3767000|agency=Associated Press|date=September 16, 2016|access-date=September 17, 2016}}</ref> His roommate in New York was the composer [[William Flanagan (composer)|William Flanagan]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/whosafraidofedwa00fost/page/12/mode/2up|page=12|title=Who's Afraid of Edward Albee?|year=1978|last=Hirsch|first= Foster|publisher=Creative Arts Book Co.|isbn=978-0-916870-12-6 }}</ref> Primarily in his early plays, Albee's work had various characters that challenged the image of a heterosexual marriage.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Who's Who IN LESBIAN & GAY WRITING|last=Griffin|first=Gabriele|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=0-415-15984-9|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinlesbian0000grif/page/2 2–3]|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinlesbian0000grif/page/2}}</ref> Despite challenging society's views about the gay community, he did not view himself as an LGBT advocate.<ref name=":1" /> Albee's work typically criticized the [[American Dream]].<ref name=":1" /> His first play, ''The Zoo Story'', written in three weeks,<ref>[http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/albee.html Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 8: Edward Albee."] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120716185246/http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/albee.html |date=July 16, 2012 }}, ''Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide''. Retrieved June 28, 2007</ref> was first staged in [[Berlin]] in 1959 before premiering Off-Broadway in 1960.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.provincetownplayhouse.com/plays1960s.html |title=Plays Produced in the Provincetown Playhouse in 1960s Chronological |work=[[Provincetown Playhouse]] |access-date=September 2, 2012}}</ref> His next, ''The Death of Bessie Smith'', similarly premiered in Berlin before arriving in New York.<ref>Albee, Edward.[https://archive.org/details/americandreamdea00edwa "The Death of Bessie Smith"]''The American Dream; The Death of Bessie Smith; Fam and Yam: Three Plays''. Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1962, {{ISBN|0-8222-0030-9}}, pp.46-48</ref>

Albee's most iconic play, ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'', opened on Broadway at the [[Billy Rose Theatre]] on October 13, 1962, and closed on May 16, 1964, after five previews and 664 performances. The opening night cast featured [[Uta Hagen]]. [[Arthur Hill (Canadian actor)|Arthur Hill]], [[George Grizzard]] and [[Melinda Dillon]].<ref>[http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/2773/Whos-Afraid-of-Virginia-Woolf "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"], ''Playbill Vault''. Retrieved December 15, 2015.</ref> The play won the [[Tony Award for Best Play]] in 1963 and was selected for the [[1963 Pulitzer Prize]] by the award's drama jury, but the selection was overruled by the advisory committee, which elected not to give a drama award at all.<ref>{{cite news|title=US playwright Edward Albee dies aged 88|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37394714|access-date=September 19, 2016|work=BBC News|date=September 17, 2016}}</ref> The two members of the jury, [[John Mason Brown]] and [[John Gassner]], subsequently resigned in protest.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kihss|first1=Peter|title=Albee Wins Pulitzer Prize; Malamud Novel is Chosen|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/15/specials/albee-pulitzer2.html|access-date=September 19, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 2, 1967}}</ref> An [[Academy Award]]-winning [[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)|film adaptation]] by [[Ernest Lehman]] was released in 1966 starring [[Elizabeth Taylor]], [[Richard Burton]], [[George Segal]], and [[Sandy Dennis]], and was directed by [[Mike Nichols]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://edwardalbeesociety.org/biography/|title=Biography &#124; Edward Albee Society|website=Edwardalbeesociety.org|access-date=November 21, 2023}}</ref> In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref name="2013Add">{{cite press release|title=Library of Congress announces 2013 National Film Registry selections |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 18, 2013|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/library-of-congress-announces-2013-national-film-registry-selections/2013/12/17/eba98bce-6737-11e3-ae56-22de072140a2_story.html|access-date=December 18, 2013}}</ref>

=== 1971–1987: The Middle Plays ===
[[File:Edward Albee by Reginald Gray.jpg|thumb|upright|160px|Edward Albee by Irish artist [[Reginald Gray (artist)|Reginald Gray]] (''The New York Times'', 1966), inspired by a photograph taken in 1962 from [[Bettmann Archive|Bettmann]]/[[Branded Entertainment Network|Corbis]].]]
In 1971 he wrote ''[[All Over]]'', a two-act play originally titled, ''Death'', the second half of a projected double bill with another play called ''Life'' (which later became ''[[Seascape (play)|Seascape]]'').<ref> [1] Gussow, Mel. Edward Albee: A Singular Journey, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999, p. 282.  {{ISBN|0-684-80278-3}}</ref> The play premiered on [[Broadway (theatre)|Broadway]] at the [[Martin Beck Theatre]] with [[John Gielgud]] directing and starred [[Jessica Tandy]], [[Madeleine Sherwood]], and [[Colleen Dewhurst]]. ''[[The New York Times]]'' writer [[Clive Barnes]] wrote, "It is a lovely, poignant and deeply felt play. In no way at all is it an easy play -- this formal minuet of death, this symphony ironically celebrating death's dominion. It is not easy in its structure, a series of almost operatic arias demanding, in their precision, pin-point concentration from the audience, and it is certainly not easy in its subject matter."<ref>Barnes, Clive. [https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/15/specials/albee-allover.html?_r=1 "Stage: 'All Over,' Albee's Drama of Death, Arrives"] ''The New York Times'', March 29, 1971</ref>

In 1974 he wrote ''[[Seascape (play)|Seascape]]'', which won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]. It debuted on Broadway with [[Deborah Kerr]] and [[Frank Langella]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://playbill.com/production/seascape-shubert-theatre-vault-0000010471|title= Seascape (Broadway, 1975)|website= Playbill|accessdate= February 11, 2024}}</ref> It was nominated for the [[Tony Award for Best Play]] losing to [[Peter Shaffer]]'s ''[[Equus (play)|Equus]]''.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/1975/category/any/show/any/ |title=1975 Tony Awards Nominees |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[American Theatre Wing]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref> Clive Barnes of ''The New York Times'' declared the play "a major event", adding, "As Mr. Albee has matured as a playwright, his work has become leaner, sparer and simpler. He depends on strong theatrical strokes to attract the attention of the audience, but the tone of the writing is always thoughtful, even careful, even philosophic." He compared his work alongside [[Samuel Beckett]] and [[Harold Pinter]].<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/27/archives/albees-seascape-is-a-major-event.html|title= Albee's 'Seascape' Is a Major Event|work= The New York Times|date= January 27, 1975|accessdate= February 11, 2024|last1= Barnes|first1= Clive}}</ref>

Albee continued to write plays including ''Listening'' (1976), ''Counting the Ways'' (1976) before a brief break before ''[[The Lady from Dubuque]]'' (1980) which had a short run on Broadway.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://v.playbill.com/person/edward-albee-vault-0000018564|title= Edward Albee (Director)|website= Playbill|accessdate= February 11, 2024}}</ref> He wrote the three act play ''[[The Man Who Had Three Arms]]'' (1983) which was received negatively with [[Frank Rich]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' writing, "isn't a play - it's a temper tantrum in two acts... One of the more shocking lapses of Mr. Albee's writing is that he makes almost no attempt even to pretend that Himself is anything other than a maudlin stand-in for himself, with the disappearing arm representing an atrophied talent."<ref>Rich, Frank. [https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/15/specials/albee-arms.html "Stage: Drama by Albee, 'Man Who Had 3 Arms'"] ''The New York Times'', April 6, 1983, {{ISSN|0362-4331}}, p. C15</ref>

Albee's plays during the 1980s received mixed reviews with Michael Billington of ''[[The Guardian]]'' writing, "American dramatists invariably end up as victims of their own myth: in a success-crazed culture they are never forgiven for failing to live up to their own early masterpieces. But if Edward Albee has suffered the same cruel fate as [[Arthur Miller]] and [[Tennessee Williams]], he has kept on trucking".<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2001/may/10/theatre.artsfeatures1|title= Edward Albee's mismatched partners|website= The Guardian|date= May 9, 2001|accessdate= February 11, 2024|last1= Billington|first1= Michael}}</ref> Billington wrote of Albee's 1987 play, ''[[Marriage Play]]'', "At the end the play achieves a metaphorical resonance by suggesting that marriage is an accumulation of meaningless habits and that "nothing has made any difference".<ref name="auto"/>

=== 1991–2016: The Later Plays ===
In 1991 he wrote the play ''[[Three Tall Women]]'', a two act play that premiered at the [[Vienna's English Theatre]] about three unnamed women. The play was revived in 2018 directed by [[Joe Mantello]] starring [[Glenda Jackson]], [[Laurie Metcalf]], and [[Allison Pill]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://playbill.com/production/three-tall-women-john-golden-theatre-2017-2018|title= Three Tall Women (Broadway, 2018)|website= Playbill|accessdate= February 11, 2024}}</ref> The 2018 production received the [[Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play]]. Allison Adato of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' wrote of the play, "Edward Albee's Three Tall Women, in which a nonagenarian revisits events of her life refracted through both her own dementia and the differing recollections of her younger selves, is a not-quite-memory play filled with regret, resentment, entitlement, various bodily indignities".<ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://ew.com/theater/2018/03/29/three-tall-women-review/|title= After 30 years, Glenda Jackson is back on Broadway in Three Tall Women: EW review|magazine= [[Entertainment Weekly]]|accessdate= February 11, 2024}}</ref>

[[Georgia State University]] English professor Matthew Roudane divides Albee's plays into three periods: the Early Plays (1959–1966), characterized by gladiatorial confrontations, bloodied action and fight to the metaphorical death; the Middle Plays (1971–1987), when Albee lost the favor of Broadway audience and started premiering in the U.S. regional theaters and in Europe; and the Later Plays (1991–2016), received as a remarkable comeback and watched by appreciative audiences and critics the world over.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/edward-albee/overview-the-theater-of-edward-albee/A5804573603B72A5AE74264BD6E6C887/core-reader|chapter=Overview: The Theater of Edward Albee|last=Roudané|first=Matthew|date=August 2017|title=Edward Albee: A Critical Introduction|pages=8–16|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139034845|language=en|access-date=March 20, 2020}}</ref>

According to ''The New York Times'', Albee was "widely considered to be the foremost American playwright of his generation."<ref>{{cite news|title=Edward Albee, Trenchant Playwright Who Laid Bare Modern Life, Dies at 88|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/arts/edward-albee-playwright-of-a-desperate-generation-dies-at-88.html|access-date=December 16, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 17, 2016}}</ref> The less-than-diligent student later dedicated much of his time to promoting American university theatre. He served as a Distinguished Professor of Playwriting and held the Lyndall Finley Wortham Chair in the Performing Arts at the [[University of Houston]]. His plays are published by [[Dramatists Play Service]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dramatists.com/index.asp |title=Dramatists Play Service |publisher=Dramatists.com |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref> and [[Samuel French, Inc.]]

==Philanthropy==
Albee established the [[Edward F. Albee Foundation, Inc.]] in 1967, from royalties from his play ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''. The foundation funds the [[William Flanagan Memorial Creative Persons Center]] (named after the composer [[William Flanagan (composer)|William Flanagan]], but better known as "The Barn") in [[Montauk, New York]], as a residence for writers and visual artists.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Grundberg|first1=Andy|title=The Artists of Summer|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/03/arts/the-artists-of-summer.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 3, 1988}}</ref>
The foundation's mission is "to serve writers and visual artists from all walks of life, by providing time and space in which to work without disturbance."<ref name=found>{{cite web|title=Mission & History|url=http://www.albeefoundation.org/mission--history.html|website=The Edward F. Albee Foundation|access-date=September 19, 2016}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Albee was gay and stated that he first knew he was gay at age twelve and a half.<ref>{{cite journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140412220903/http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=6070 |url=http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=6070 |url-status=unfit |title=Who's Afraid of Edward Albee? |first=Randy |last=Shulman |journal=Metro Weekly |date=March 10, 2011 |archive-date=April 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 | last =Byrne
 | first =Chris
 | editor-last=Gerstner
 | editor-first=David A.
 | title =Edward Albee
 | encyclopedia = Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture
 | edition= 1
 | pages =35
 | publisher =[[Routledge]]
 | language =English
 | date =2006
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=XS_SnVPixE8C
 | isbn = 9780415306515
 | access-date = July 5, 2022}}</ref>

As a teen in Larchmont, Albee became a close friend of English-born Muir Weissinger Jr. and his family. Albee, along with others, referred to Florence, Muir's mother, as "Mummy". For her part, Albee's mother felt he spent too much time at the Weissinger household. Albee dated Muir's sister, Delphine, and escorted her to her coming-out party. Albee and Delphine had a "long and intense relationship" while it lasted; Albee has said they were "unofficially engaged". Albee kept in touch for a long time with Florence and Muir Weissinger.<ref>Gussow, Mel.  ''Edward Albee: A Singular Journey: A Biography''.  Simon & Schuster (August 18, 1999) {{ISBN|978-0684802787}} p.44</ref>

Albee insisted that he did not want to be known as a "gay writer", saying in his acceptance speech for the 2011 [[Lambda Literary Foundation]]'s Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement: "A writer who happens to be gay or lesbian must be able to transcend self. I am not a gay writer. I am a writer who happens to be gay."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/06/06/136923478/playwright-edward-albee-defends-remarks|title=Playwright Edward Albee defends 'gay writer' remarks|publisher=NPR|date=June 6, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120023729/https://www.npr.org/2011/06/06/136923478/playwright-edward-albee-defends-remarks |archive-date= November 20, 2023 }}</ref> His longtime partner, Jonathan Richard Thomas, a sculptor, died on May 2, 2005, from bladder cancer. They had been partners from 1971 until Thomas's death. Albee also had a relationship of several years with playwright [[Terrence McNally]] during the 1950s.<ref name=WaPo>{{cite news|last=Pressley|first=Nelson|title=Edward Albee, Pulitzer-Winning Playwright of Modern Masterpieces, Dies at 88|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/edward-albee-pulitzer-winning-playwright-of-modern-masterpieces-dies-at-88/2016/09/16/2645feb0-7c6c-11e6-bd86-b7bbd53d2b5d_story.html |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 16, 2016|access-date=September 17, 2016}}</ref>
[[File:Edward Albee portrait by Neal Marshad.jpg|thumb|Edward Albee on July 10, 1999 at LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, NY - photograph by Neal Marshad]]
Albee died at his home in Montauk, New York on September 16, 2016, aged 88.<ref name=WaPo/><ref name="bncnewsobit">{{cite news|last1=Howard|first1=Adam|title=Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright Edward Albee Dead at 88|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pulitzer-prize-winning-playwright-edward-albee-dead-88-n649766|access-date=September 17, 2016|publisher=NBC News|date=September 16, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-edward-albee-1928-2016-20160916-story.html |title=Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee dies at age 88 |first=Chris |last=Jones |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 16, 2016 |access-date=September 17, 2016}}</ref>

Albee lived in a 6,000-square-foot loft that was a former cheese warehouse in New York's Tribeca neighborhood. At the time of his death Albee held an expansive collection of fine art, utilitarian works and sculptures.  Albee was especially interested in artworks created by indigenous cultures in Africa and Oceania.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.artlyst.com/news/edward-albee-collection-unveiled-sothebys-ahead-september-auction/ | title=Edward Albee Collection Unveiled by Sotheby's Ahead of September Auction|website=Artlyst.com }}</ref>

== Accolades and accomplishments ==
[[File:Edward Albee 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Albee in 1997]]
A member of the [[Dramatists Guild]] Council, Albee received three [[Pulitzer Prize]]s for [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama|drama]]—for ''[[A Delicate Balance (play)|A Delicate Balance]]'' (1967), ''[[Seascape (play)|Seascape]]'' (1975), and ''[[Three Tall Women]]'' (1994). Albee was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1972.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 6, 2011}}</ref> In 1985, Albee was inducted into the [[American Theatre Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/05/arts/broadway-s-best.html|title=Broadway's Best|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 5, 1985}}</ref> In 1999, Albee received the [[PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award]] as a Master American Dramatist.<ref>{{cite web|title=Winners of the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Awards {{!}} PEN America|date=April 29, 2016|url=https://pen.org/winners-penlaura-pels-international-foundation-theater-awards|publisher=PEN|access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref> He received a Special [[Tony Award]] for Lifetime Achievement (2005);<ref name="bncnewsobit"/> the gold medal in Drama from the [[American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters]] (1980); as well as the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] and the [[National Medal of Arts]] (both in 1996).<ref>{{cite web|title=Who We Are|url=http://www.albeefoundation.org/who-we-are.html|publisher=The Edward F. Albee Foundation|access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref> In 2009, Albee received honorary degree from the Bulgarian National Academy of Theater and Film Arts (NATFA), a member of the Global Alliance of Theater Schools.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} In 2008, in celebration of Albee's 80th birthday, a number of his plays were mounted in distinguished [[Off-Broadway]] venues, including the historic [[Cherry Lane Theatre]] where the playwright directed two of his early one-acts, ''The American Dream'' and ''The Sandbox''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Brantley|first1=Ben|title=A Double Bill of Plays, Both Heavy on the Bile|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/theater/reviews/02bran.html |access-date=September 17, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 2, 2008}}</ref>

{|  class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan=5|[[Pulitzer Prize]]
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Project
! scope="col" | Result 
! scope="col" | {{abbr|Ref.|Reference}}
|-
| 1967 || rowspan=5|[[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] || ''A Delicate Balance'' || {{won}} ||<ref name="Hohenberg">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/article/snub-edward-albee|title=A snub of Edward Albee|last=Hohenberg|first=John|website=The Pulitzer Prize|language=en-US|access-date=February 24, 2020}}</ref>
|-
| 1975 ||  ''Seascape'' || {{won}} ||<ref name="Hohenberg"/>
|-
| 1994 ||  ''Three Tall Women'' || {{won}} ||<ref name="Hohenberg"/>
|-
| 2001 || ''The Play About the Baby'' || {{nom}} ||<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/edward-albee|title= Finalist: The Play About the Baby, by Edward Albee|website= Pulitzer.org|accessdate= February 15, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| 2003 || ''[[The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?]]'' || {{nom}} ||<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/edward-albee-0|title= Finalist: The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, by Edward Albee|website= Pulitzer.org|accessdate= February 15, 2024}}</ref>
|-
!colspan=5|[[Tony Awards]]
|-
| 1963 || rowspan=2|[[Tony Award for Best Play|Best Play]] || ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' || {{won}} ||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/1963/category/any/show/any/ |title=1963 Tony Awards Nominees |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[American Theatre Wing]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 1964 || ''[[The Ballad of the Sad Cafe]]'' || {{nom}} ||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/1964/category/any/show/any/ |title=1964 Tony Awards Nominees |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[American Theatre Wing]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 1965 || [[Tony Award for Best Author|Best Author]] || rowspan=2|''[[Tiny Alice]]'' || {{nom}} || rowspan=2|<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/1965/category/any/show/any/ |title=1963 Tony Awards Nominees |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[American Theatre Wing]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 1965 || rowspan=4|[[Tony Award for Best Play|Best Play]] || {{nom}}
|-
| 1967 || ''[[A Delicate Balance (play)|A Delicate Balance]]'' || {{nom}} ||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/1967/category/any/show/any/ |title=1967 Tony Awards Nominees |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[American Theatre Wing]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 1975 || ''[[Seascape (play)|Seascape]]'' || {{nom}} ||<ref name="auto1"/>
|-
| 2002 || ''[[The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?]]'' || {{won}} ||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/2002/category/any/show/any/ |title=2002 Tony Awards Nominees |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[American Theatre Wing]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 2005 || colspan=2|[[Special Tony Award|Lifetime Achievement]] || {{Won|Received}} ||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/2005/category/any/show/any/ |title=2005 Tony Awards Nominees |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[American Theatre Wing]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref>
|-
!colspan=5|[[Drama Desk Award]]
|-
| 1960 || Vernon Rice Award || ''The Zoo Story'' || {{won}} || rowspan=6|<ref>{{cite web|url= https://v.playbill.com/person/edward-albee-vault-0000018564|title= Edward Albee|website= Playbill|accessdate= February 11, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| 1975 || [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play|Outstanding New Play]] || ''Seascape'' || {{nom}}
|-
| 1976 || [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play|Outstanding Director of a Play]] || ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' || {{nom}}
|-
| 1994 || [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play|Outstanding Play]] || ''Three Tall Women'' || {{nom}}
|-
| 2002 || [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play|Outstanding New Play]] || ''The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?'' || {{won}}
|-
| 2008 || colspan=2|[[Drama Desk Special Award|Special Award]] || {{won|Received}}
|-
!colspan=5|[[Grammy Award]]
|-
| rowspan=2|1963 || [[Best Spoken Word Album]] || rowspan=2|'' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? '' || {{won}} || rowspan=2|<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.grammy.com/artists/edward-albee/372|title= Edward Albee - Artist|website= [[Grammy Awards]]|accessdate= February 11, 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[Best Album Notes]] || {{nom}}
|-
|}

'''Honorary awards'''
* 1995: [[St. Louis Literary Award]] from the Saint Louis University Library Associates<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |title=Recipients of the Saint Louis Literary Award |publisher=Saint Louis University |access-date=July 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731082313/http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |archive-date=July 31, 2016 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>
* 1996: National Medal of Arts
* 2003 [http://fscottfestival.org/ Fitzgerald Award  Award for Achievement in American Literature award]
* 2005: [[Academy of Achievement]]'s Golden Plate Award<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|year=2005 |title=Edward Albee Biography Photo | url=https://achievement.org/achiever/edward-albee/|quote=Toni Morrison, recipient of the Nobel Prize, and Edward Albee at a reception prior to the Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies during the 2005 International Achievement Summit in New York City.}}</ref>
* 2011: Edward MacDowell Medal for Lifetime Achievement
* 2011: Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement, [[Lambda Literary Foundation]]
* 2013: Chicago Tribune Literary Prize<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-xpm-2013-07-10-ct-ent-0711-chf-literary-awards-20130711-story.html|title=Edward Albee wins Tribune's top award for writing|last=Crowder|first=Courtney|website=Chicago Tribune|date=July 10, 2013 |language=en-US|access-date=February 24, 2020}}</ref>
* 2015: [[America Award in Literature]]


== Works ==
=== Plays ===
Works written or adapted by Albee:<ref>{{cite web|title=Works|url=http://edwardalbeesociety.org/works/|publisher=Edward Albee Society|access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref>
{{columns-list|
* ''[[The Zoo Story]]'' (1959)
* ''[[The Death of Bessie Smith]]'' (1960)
* ''[[The Sandbox (play)|The Sandbox]]'' (1960)
* ''Fam and Yam'' (1960)
* ''[[The American Dream (play)|The American Dream]]'' (1961)
* ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' (1962)
* ''[[Tiny Alice]]'' (1964)
* ''[[A Delicate Balance (play)|A Delicate Balance]]'' (1966)
* ''Box'' and ''Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung'' (1968)
* ''[[All Over]]'' (1971)
* ''[[Seascape (play)|Seascape]]'' (1975)
* ''Listening'' (1976)
* ''Counting the Ways'' (1976)
* ''[[The Lady from Dubuque]]'' (1980)
* ''[[The Man Who Had Three Arms]]'' (1982)
* ''[[Finding the Sun]]'' (1983)
* ''Walking'' (1984)
* ''Envy'' (1985)
* ''[[Marriage Play]]'' (1987)
* ''[[Three Tall Women]]'' (1991)
* ''The Lorca Play'' (1992)
* ''Fragments'' (1993)
* ''[[The Play About the Baby]]'' (1998)
* ''[[The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Occupant (play)|Occupant]]'' (2001)
* ''Knock! Knock! Who's There!?'' (2003)
* ''[[Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo|At Home at the Zoo]]'' (2004)
* ''[[Me Myself and I (play)|Me Myself and I]]'' (2007)
}}

=== Stage Adaptations ===
{{div col|content=
* ''[[The Ballad of the Sad Café (play)|The Ballad of the Sad Café]]''<br> (Broadway 1963, adapted from the novella by [[Carson McCullers]])
* ''Malcolm'' <br> (Broadway 1966, adapted from the novel by [[James Purdy]])
* ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (musical)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]''<br> (Broadway 1966, adapted from the novel by [[Truman Capote]])
* ''[[Everything in the Garden]]''<br> (Broadway 1967, adapted from the play by [[Giles Cooper (playwright)|Giles Cooper]]) 
* ''[[Lolita (play)|Lolita]]''<br> (Broadway 1981, adapted from the novel by [[Vladimir Nabokov]])
}}

===Opera libretti===
* ''Bartleby'' (adapted from the short story by [[Herman Melville]]) (1961)
* ''The Ice Age'' (1963, uncompleted)

=== Essays ===
* ''Stretching My Mind: Essays 1960–2005'' (Avalon Publishing, 2005). {{ISBN|9780786716210}}.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* "[https://charlierose.com/videos/15389 Edward Albee]". ''Charlie Rose'', May 27, 2008.

== Further reading ==
* Solomon, Rakesh H. ''[http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=235505 Albee in Performance]''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
{{Portal|Literature|Theatre|Biography}}

=== Archives ===
* [http://archives.nypl.org/the/21417 Edward Albee scripts, 1949–1966], [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
* [https://mms.newberry.org/xml/xml_files/Albee.xml Edward Albee Plays] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730225518/https://mms.newberry.org/xml/xml_files/Albee.xml |date=July 30, 2020 }} at [https://www.newberry.org the Newberry Library]
* [https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?mss0481 Robert A. Wilson collection], [https://library.udel.edu/special/ Special Collections, University of Delaware Library]

=== Other links ===
* [http://www.albeefoundation.org/ Edward F. Albee Foundation]
* [http://edwardalbeesociety.org/ The Edward Albee Society]
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{iobdb name}}

{{Edward Albee}}
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