ALBEE, EDWARD

born March 12, 1928, Virginia, U.S. in full Edward Franklin Albee American dramatist and theatrical producer best known for his play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? (1962), which displays slashing insight and witty dialogue in its gruesome portrayal of married life. The adopted child of a family involved in vaudeville theatre, Albee grew up in New York City and nearby Westchester county. He was educated at Choate School (graduated 1946) and Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. (194647). He wrote poetry and an unpublished novel but turned to plays in the late 1950s. Among Albee's early one-act plays, The Zoo Story (1959), The Sandbox (1960), and The American Dream (1961) were the most successful and established him as an astute critic of American values. But it is his first full-length play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (filmed 1966), that remains his most important work. In this play a middle-aged professor, his wife, and a younger couple engage one night in an unrestrained drinking bout that is filled with malicious games, insults, humiliations, betrayals, savage witticisms, and painful, self-revealing confrontations. Virginia Woolf won immediate acclaim and established Albee as a major American playwright. It was followed by a number of full-length worksincluding Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance (1966; winner of a Pulitzer Prize), Seascape (1975; Pulitzer Prize), and Three Tall Women (1991; Pulitzer Prize)as well as adaptations of other writers' works. In addition to writing, Albee produced a number of plays and lectured at schools throughout the country. Additional reading Richard E. Amacher, Edward Albee, rev. ed. (1982); Philip C. Kolin and J. Madison Davis (eds.), Critical Essays on Edward Albee (1986); Matthew C. Roudan, Understanding Edward Albee (1987).