1. Edward Albee The Greatest Living American Playwright By Kimberly Freeman

2. Family Born March 12, 1928 (currently 86) Adopted two weeks after he was born by Reed and Frances Albee His adoptive parents owned a chain of theatres through the Keith-Albee organization Despite their involvement in theatre, they urged Albee to have a more “professional” career. Thrown out of his parents’ house because of his dreams to be a writer Moved to New York He never reconciled with his father, who died in 1961 “I was never comfortable with the adoptive parents. I don’t think they new how to be parents. I probably didn’t know how to be a son, either.”

3. Education Expelled or dismissed from Clinton High School, Lawrenceville School (New Jersey), and Valley Forge Military Academy (Pennsylvania). Graduated high school from Choate School in 1946 Went to Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut, but was expelled his sophomore year.

4. Early Career While living in New York City, he tried to be a poet and a fiction writer. The Zoo Story (1958) • First premiered in Berlin in 1959 • Re-appeared in America Off-Broadway in 1960 Became famous for his absurdist one-act plays • Including the Sandbox (1959)

5. Works He’s written 31 plays (1958-2009) The Zoo Story (1958) The Sandbox (1959 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woof? (1962) Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1966) Seascape (1974) Three Tall Women (1991) The Goat or Who is Sylvia (2002) Me Myself and I (2007) At Home at the Zoo (2009)

6. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Easily Albee’s most famous play First On-Broadway production The Pulitzer Prize drama panel voted for it, but the Pulitzer Committee vetoed it due to “unwholesome” content • No prize was awarded that year • Most of the drama panel resigned in protest Did win a Tony Award for Best Play in 1963 Believed to be based on his time spent at Trinity College

7. Awards Two Tony Awards for Best Play • Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf 1963 • The Goat, or Who is Sylvia 2002 Three Pulitzer Prizes for Drama • A Delicate Balance 1967 • Seascape 1975 • Three Tall Women 1994 A Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement • Named him the greatest living American Playwright Many many more awards and tons and tons of nominations

8. Still Kicking Still impacting theatre today Taught playwriting at the University of Houston Took special interest in inspiring and encouraging young writers Founded the Edward F. Albee Foundation in 1967 which continues to host exclusive workshops and creative retreats for aspiring playwrights. Sometimes directs revivals of his past plays • In 2008 he directed “The American Dream” and “The Sandbox”

9. Works Cited • http://plays.about.com/od/playwrights/p/edwardalbee.htm • http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/alb1bio-1 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Albee • http://www.albeefoundation.org/Mission.html