Richards realization that their newfound money is being earned by his wifes whoring comes almost simultaneously with the return of their fourteen-year-old son from school and a champagne cocktail party which they are giving to impress their country club friends. Toothe in the menacing and fascinating person of Beatrice Straight who offers Jenny the opportunity to make more money than they have ever had, to buy a greenhouse and all the other luxuries that they require for their garden and their lives. The action starts in an entertaining comedy of manners style. The only thing that seems to stand in the way of their happiness is a lack of money.
The scene is the suburban home of Jenny and Richard, beautifully played by Barbara Bel Geddes and Barry Nelson. Albee there is a theme beneath the surface, in this case the corruption of money and the rottenness of this bigoted exurbia where conformity to its illiberal standards and its hypocritical show of respectability is all that counts. For more information visit George Oppenheimers words: As always with Mr. Tickets, priced $60 (regular), $20 (student advance) and $10 (student rush), are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting The Cherry Lane Theatre is located in Manhattan at 38 Commerce Street, near Seventh Avenue, between Bedford and Barrow Streets. Show times are Tuesdays at 7 PM, Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8 PM with matinees Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 PM. The season has been dubbed "The Albee Season" and includes Peter and Jerry at Second Stage Me, Myself and I at the McCarter Theatre The Sandbox and The American Dream at the Cherry Lane Theatre and Occupant at the Signature Theatre Company. Albee is also the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes, the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.įour major Edward Albee productions will be seen in and around New York City in the 2007-08 season, during which the playwright will turned 80 (on March 12). Discussions with playwright-director Albee will take place following the March 26 and April 8 performances.Įdward Albee won Best Play Tony Awards for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? He was also Tony nominated for The Ballad of the Sad Café, Tiny Alice, A Delicate Balance and Seascape. Barker, Markle as Grandma, Ivey as Mommy, Walsh as the American Dream and Williams as the Angel of Death (in The Sandbox). In it, Albee explores the hollowness of the American dream, as well as the fallacy of the ideal American family."īartenieff plays Daddy with Butler as Mrs. It is a ferocious, uproarious attack on the substitution of artificial for real values, a startling tale of murder and morality that rocks middle-class ethics to their complacent foundations. In this pioneering work, Albee manipulates clichés of language and social mores, breaking the fourth wall and purposefully destroying the audience's illusion of passive observation of the action of the play." American Dream, written in 1960, "continues the story of The Sandbox's Mommy and Daddy. Written in 1959, The Sandbox, press notes state, "introduces one of America's most dysfunctional families, a grasping, materialistic married couple who stage a perverse seaside idyll destined to end in the demise of the wife's aged mother. The production will officially open April 1 and run through April 19. Her other stage credits include the Broadway productions of True West, The Grapes of Wrath, A Warm Body and Calculated Risk.īoth one-acts - directed by playwright Albee - also feature Tony Award winner Judith Ivey, Drama Desk Award winner George Bartenieff, Kathleen Butler, Harmon Walsh and (in Sandbox only) Jesse Williams.
Markle is an Albee veteran, having performed in productions of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? at Trinity Square Rep, the national tour of Three Tall Women, A Delicate Balance at Arizona Theatre Co. Carter has since bowed out of the production she has been replaced by Lois Markle.
Performances had been scheduled to commence March 11 but were canceled due to the illness of actress Myra Carter.