Edward Albee Festival starts at Arena Stage
A debate rages over whether it's useful to experience the life's work of playwright Edward Albee simply by having actors read aloud his scripts.
On one side are organizers of Arena Stage's Edward Albee Festival, who say the 26 staged readings of virtually every Albee play produced since the late '50s - from works such as "The American Dream" to "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" - constitute a rare opportunity to float at length in the dazzling metaphorical universe of one of America's greatest living dramatists.
On the other side is Albee himself. "I'm not so sure about how this whole reading thing will work. I mistrust readings," grumbles the writer, who turns 83 Saturday. He worries that his prose - intended for more vibrant platforms - will end up competing with the sound of snores. "Some of them will be okay. Some of them will work better than others," he adds, resignedly. "I try to, but I can't control the world."
Included are two full productions: one by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and Arena's own staging of "At Home at the Zoo," a pairing of 1959's "The Zoo Story" with a prequel to it that he wrote a couple of years ago. These, Albee says, are the entries that for him are the most worthwhile.