Edward Albee

Born in Washington D.C. in 1928, Edward Albee forever changed the face of American stage when he wrote Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a harsh play about hatred, cruelty, and relationships.

It was a play that was a tough sell in the early 60s as it had strong, explicit language and was the equivalent of an emotional mugging.

Albee was adopted as an infant by the son of a vaudeville producer. At the close of his teenage years, he fled his mother's social scene to Greenwich Village where he worked odd jobs until completing The Zoo Story, a 1959 play that would launch his fame as an American playwright. He was hailed as the successor to Arthur Miller and Tennesee Williams and the leader of American absurdist drama.

Albee's works have won three Pulitzers, an Obie Award, three Tony Awards, a Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, a National Medal of the Arts, Auger Meadows Award, and recognition from the New York Drama Critics Circle.

In 2005, a Broadway revival of Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin netted Albee a Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement.

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