Edward Albee is often considered one of America's greatest modern playwrights, known for his biting wit, his mastery of dramatic tension, and his grasp of the "Theater of the Absurd," a movement established in the work of Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco. Albee was born in Washington, DC on March 12, 1928. When he was two weeks old, baby Edward was adopted by millionaire couple Reed and Frances Albee. The Albees named their son after Reed's father, Edward Franklin Albee, a powerful vaudeville producer who had made the family fortune as a partner in the Keith-Albee Theater Circuit.
Young Edward was raised by his adoptive parents in Westchester, New York. Because of his father's and...