| Issue #41, January 19, 2007 |
Neighbor:
Edward Albee
Playwright
By Emily J Weitz
Edward Albee claims to have had his first conscious memory at the age of six months. So, when he thought about how long it took him to write his 1994 play, Three Tall Women, he realized that it had taken “all [his] life.” And a fascinating life it’s been. Edward was born Edward Harvey in 1928 to a woman in Washington, DC named Louise Harvey. She had been abandoned by Edward’s father and, subsequently, she put the baby up for adoption. At 18 days old, Edward was adopted by a barren couple, Reed and Frances Albee.
Soon the boy was whisked off to a large estate in Larchmont by his wealthy adopted parents, where he spent a privileged though lonely childhood. The Albee family came from a tradition of entertainment and theatre. Edward’s grandfather, Edward Franklin Albee, ran away with the circus and became one of the most well-known showmen of his time. He became a producer of vaudeville shows and was notoriously harsh to his performers. When his son, Edward Albee’s father, took over the business, he was found to be much more compassionate.
However, by the time baby Edward was adopted, his father had already retired from the circus business and was married to his third wife, a beautiful woman referred to as Frankie. While the outside world thought of Reed and Frankie as humorous and glamorous, Edward did not see these sides of them. He thought of them as cold and distant. Edward often wondered what his life might have been like if he had been raised by another of his father’s wives.
Much of Edward’s material was derived from this intriguing childhood. He once said that “Your source material is the people you know, not those you don’t know, but every character is an extension of the author’s own personality.”
His character Claire in A Delicate Balance was inspired by Frankie’s younger sister Jane, an alcoholic. It was clear from Edward’s depiction of Claire that he was, in fact, quite fond of Jane. Upon seeing the play, Jane commented, “it was superbly written with just the right balance of wit, humor, and near tragedy.”
Edward drew extensively from his parents’ social circles, their relationship with one another, and their interactions with him. He even used his father’s glass eye, which replaced his real eye lost in an incident with a golf ball, as a characteristic of a withdrawn father in The Merry Month of May.
Edward never gave education too much credit, and though Mrs. Albee tried diligently to make him a society man, he would not be sculpted. He went to various prep schools as a child, and attended Choate for the longest amount of time. He then spent a few semesters at Trinity College in Hartford, but he was expelled for skipping classes and a refusal to attend required chapel services. When he was 20, Edward moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, where he made friends with lots of young artists and writers. Edward picked up several dead-end jobs, which gave him the freedom to pursue his writing, which had become his passion. He worked for Western Union for three years while he worked on his manuscripts. During this time, he received some interesting advice from other writers. W.H. Auden, upon reading one of Edward’s poems, suggested he start writing pornographic stories. But it was Thornton Wilder, who suggested that Edward begin to lay his emphasis on drama.
In 1958, Edward emerged with his first major play, The Zoo Story. This short work told the story of a bum who lured a millionaire into committing murder. It was typed up on a typewriter he had stolen from Western Electric. At first, he was unable to convince American theatres to show it, so Edward brought the play to Germany, where it was performed in the Schiller Theatre in Berlin. The New York Times published an article that stated, “Isn’t it interesting that an American playwright would have to go all the way to West Berlin to have his first play performed and especially in a language he did not understand?” Four months later, The Zoo Story was brought to the city and billed alongside Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape and was met with warm reviews.
Edward Albee went on to write about 25 more plays, although he remains convinced that he “has not yet created his best work.” Some critics may find that hard to believe, considering he has won three Pulitzer Prizes, one for A Delicate Balance (1966), another for Seascape (1975), and Three Tall Women (1994). His best-known work though, might be Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which first came out in 1963 and ran for 664 performances before it was made into a popular film starring Elizabeth Taylor. The play has since been revived on Broadway and has proven a timeless study of American family life.
Edward Albee splits his time between New York City and Montauk. Out here in Montauk, he runs the Edward F Albee Foundation, where artists, writers, and composers are invited to spend time on his expanse of property, living in peace and indulging in their craft. He started the Foundation, fondly referred to as “The Barn,” in 1967 with the proceeds from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
At the age of 78, Edward Albee shows no signs of slowing down. Right now, he is in Europe preparing for a London run of his 1979 The Lady from Dubuque. And his presence is still felt in the Hamptons. Last week, Everything in the Garden opened at the Quogue Community Hall for a three week run. This 1967 play was met with rave reviews when it first opened in New York. The Daily News called it “altogether absorbing and original,” and the Times consequently hailed Albee as “our best playwright.” The play is a critical look at American suburbia in the late 60s and its commentary holds much of the same value in our current times.
Edward Albee is one of the Hamptons’ great treasures. His investment in Montauk property after his early theatrical successes has kept him tied to this place for decades and he continues to bring creative talents to the area with his Foundation. His passion for theatre is evident in his plays. He describes a playwright as “someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.” And that’s why we indulge in the arts: to see people express themselves from the inside out.
The Hampton Theatre Company production of “Everything in the Garden,” will be performed from January 11 through 28 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2:30. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for seniors (except for Saturdays) and $10 for students. The Hampton Theatre Company can be reached for reservations at 653-8955 or hamptonstheatre@optonline.net.
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