Playwright Albee leads course on own work

Award-winning writers might be stereotyped as shrouding their creative process in secrecy, but eight University undergraduates got to pierce the veil of mystery this semester, observing and learning from famed playwright Edward Albee as he prepared his latest theatrical opus.

The students — participants in the seminar THR: Special Topics in History and Theory: Albee on Albee, a course offered through the program in theater and dance and co-taught by the playwright himself — helped Albee prepare his latest play, "Me, Myself, and I," which opened at the Berlind Theatre last Friday. Their involvement included reading a draft in November, accompanying Albee to the play's first read-through in mid-December and taking part in final rehearsals and meetings with the cast and crew.

Michael Cadden, director of the theater and dance program and co-teacher of the seminar, told The Times of Trenton that devoting an entire course to a single, living author is unusual. "He is one of the historic figures in American theater," Cadden said. "It's Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee."

Albee's latest work involves identical twins, both named Otto, whose mother isn't able to tell them apart — and who take sibling rivalry to new heights. The play is being directed by McCarter's artistic director, Emily Mann, and stars six-time Emmy winner and Tony winner Tyne Daly as the mother.

One student in the seminar, Kelvin Dinkins '09, said his up-close observation of Albee's methods left him impressed with the playwright's attention to physical detail. "He takes proximity very seriously in his text," Dinkins told the Times. "He wants to know how far characters are from each other and how close ... He's the authority, and he knows what he wants to happen. It's a very militant version of a playwright that I admire."

During a recent event at the Princeton Public Library, held to celebrate the new play, Albee said the classroom offers ideal conditions for theater because it's far away from the commercialization of Broadway. "The costs of doing theater have risen so preposterously, it is harder and harder for producers to be willing to take a chance on a new American play without first trying to persuade a playwright to soften it, to make it safer and to make it more commercial," he said.

Albee's stint at the University isn't his first time teaching on a college campus. He's taught courses at various universities for more than 20 years and previously worked on two plays at McCarter — "Marriage Play" in 1992 and "All Over" in 2002.

A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Albee first rose to national fame with the 1959 play "The Zoo Story." He went on to win three Tony Awards for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" "A Delicate Balance" and "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" Albee also received a special Lifetime Achievement Tony award and in 1996 was recognized with the National Medal of Arts and a Kennedy Center Honor.

Though he turns 80 in March, Albee doesn't show signs of slowing down any time soon. That same month will see the revival of "The American Dream" and "The Sandbox," and two months later, Albee will debut "The Occupant," which was originally scheduled to open five years ago with Anne Bancroft. Bancroft's death postponed the work's debut, which will now open in May with Mercedes Ruehl in the lead role.