Early in the twentieth century, American theater critics and drama scholars wondered where the native modern dramatists were--the American equals to Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, and Anton Chekhov--and why the United States had failed to produce a...

In the early 1960s it was customary to find the names of four young playwrights linked: Edward Albee, Jack Gelber, Arthur Kopit, and Jack Richardson. These, and certain others like them, wished to prevent theatre in the United States from retreating...

In the early 1960s it was customary to find the names of four young playwrights linked: Edward Albee, Jack Gelber, Arthur Kopit, and Jack Richardson. These, and certain others like them, wished to prevent theater in the United States from retreating...

The best productions, on or off-Broadway, in 2007:_ "August: Osage County." Tracy Letts' Broadway debut is a big, juicy melodrama filled with family fights and funny business, not to mention the best ensemble acting in town, courtesy of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company._ "Radio Golf." The...

On Monday, Nov. 12, hotelier André Balazs and GQ magazine co-hosted a party at STK, a nightclub on Little West 12th Street in the Meatpacking District, celebrating the publication of clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger and ad man George Lois’ new book, Iconic America: A...

New York Post greets plastic-surgery magazine Skin Deep today with a collection of quotes from the new title, assembled into a damning portrait of superficiality: * "It's a month before your wedding and you want everything to be just perfect! ... The good news is...

“The entire play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is set outside, so just to actually be in the elements, to have the air and the raccoons or, you know, whatever happens to wander up onstage … It just adds that much more to the magic,” cooed...

In the essay below, the critic expresses reservations about the "surface polish " of Albee's dialogue but concludes that he is "the most skillful composer of dialogue that America has produced. "

In the following essay, the critic explores the recurring themes of isolation and separation throughout Albee's work.

The following interview, conducted by Laurence Maslon, was held in the fall of 1991 as part of the "Conversations with Leading American Playwrights " series sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution's Campus on the Mall program. Albee here discusses his approach to play writing and offers his views on the state of American theater.

"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" is Edward Albee's attempt at articulating the crises of contemporary Western Civilization. It is written in the same mode as the works of the great dramatists of the 1930s who critiqued America as it moved from "confidence to doubt."