Edward Albee Festival

Extras & Insights

“The function of the arts is to hold a mirror up to people, to say, ‘This is how you are. Take a hard look; if you don’t like what you see, change.’ The function of the arts is to bring order out of chaos, coherence out of the endless static, the gibberish of the stars, and to render people capable of thinking metaphorically.” – Edward Albee, “It Is the Dark We Have to Fear” (1989)

In Rehearsal

The Art of Life: Edward Albee
At Home at the Zoo director Mary B. Robinson sits down and talks to Albee about his philosophy on art and the writing of At Home at the Zoo.
The Playwright’s Studio
Albee talks to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? director Pam MacKinnon and Steppenwolf Theatre’s Artistic Director, Martha Lavey.
Fifty Years to Get Home: A History of At Home at the Zoo
Follow At Home at the Zoo from first reading through opening night at Arena Stage.

From the Wings

Edward Albee: An American Giant
Investigate the life of one of America’s foremost dramatists.
Setting the Stage: An Interview with Designer Jim Noone
Experience the physical world of the play with the set designer of At Home at the Zoo.
Getting Dressed: A Conversation with Designer Ted Stumpf
Journey to the costume shop to learn about the clothes in At Home at the Zoo.
Tracy Letts and Amy Morton: Modern Theater's Power Couple
Meet the dynamic duo portraying one of theater's most volatile couples.

Spotlight On

A Look at the Zoo: The Status Quo and the Outsiders in 1950s America
Delve into the historic decade The Zoo Story garnered international acclaim.
The Big, Bad Woolf
Discover the inspiration behind the title Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Walpurgisnacht: Between “Fun & Games” and “The Exorcism”
Trace the title of Woolf’s second act to its 6th century origins.
American Absurdism: A Guide to Edward Albee’s Life & Work
Travel from the 1920s through the 2000s with Edward Albee's Life and Work.
Double Responsibility: Edward Albee’s Adaptations
Explore the stories and events that inspired some of Albee’s plays.

Encore

Fun and Games on the Silver Screen
Find out how the Pulitzer Prize-winning script of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was adapted to the silver screen.
A Woolf Glossary: Names and Allusions
Learn the origin of obscure phrases and references in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Read Deeper: Literary References in At Home at the Zoo
Uncover Albee’s nods to two thousand years of mythology.

Extras & Insights is funded, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities and by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.