Great American Playwright Was 88
American playwright Edward Albee, who was awarded three Pulitzer prizes, has died. He was 88 years old. In 1963 Albee’s now-iconic drama, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, was selected by the drama jury, but the advisory committee reversed the decision, electing to not award a prize in the drama category that year.
Albee’s assistant Jackob Holder announced Albee’s passing. He “died Friday at his home on Long Island,” the AP reports.
Albee wrote 31 plays, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s, from Capote’s novel. Also, The Zoo Story, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, and The American Dream and The Sandbox, the latter of which was recently staged by off-Broadway’s Signature Theater last season.
The New York Times describes Albee as the “Playwright of a Desperate Generation,” saying he was “widely considered the foremost American playwright of his generation, whose psychologically astute and piercing dramas explored the contentiousness of intimacy, the gap between self-delusion and truth and the roiling desperation beneath the facade of contemporary life.”
Sculptor Jonathan Thomas, Albee’s long-time partner, passed away in 2005.
Â
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.