originally published: 10/12/2023

(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- In association with The Estate of Edward Albee, the Black Box presents 1993's Fragments (A Sit-Around) on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 7:30pm as the next monthly reading in Edward Albee: From A To Zoo, An Exclusive Stage Reading Series of Edward Albee's Plays.

As described by Mr. Albee himself, Fragments (A Sit-Around) "... is a tricky little play, great fun for actors, the construction of which bewildered many who could not comprehend that dramatic shape need not be linear but could be a vortex, moving from all sides at once toward a culminating center."

The Edward Albee Society's website goes further: "From these proverbs are prompted stories of each characters' past, or musings surrounding life-long mysteries. Each tries to tell about some incident which they hope will illuminate their own being; hoping the others will understand who they are. Each story flows to the next, with a musical quality to the randomness."

Mr. Albee added that the piece "...lacks plot in any established sense; there is no clear dilemma and resolution—no ‘story,’ no apparent sequentially. The piece proceeds as a piece of music does—accumulating, accumulating, following its own logic. Its effectiveness, its coherence reside in what we have experienced from the totality of it. Fragments is also a very simple, straightforward piece—on its own terms, of course.”

This rarely performed play, featuring a cast of eight, can be seen on Wednesday, October 25th at 7:30pm at The Black Box, 8 East Palisade Avenue, 2nd Floor, between Van Brunt and Dean Streets in Englewood, New Jersey.

The performance will once again be followed by a conversation with the cast, director, and Jakob Holder, Executive Director of The Edward F. Albee Foundation and Mr. Albee's longest serving assistant. General admission seating is FREE yet limited for each evening in this series. House opens approximately 7:00pm.

From the masterworks to the rarely seen, this curated monthly series began in May with The Sandbox (1959) and The American Dream (1960), and has continued with Finding The Sun (1983) and Marriage Play (1983) in June, The Man Who Had Three Arms (1983) in July, Malcolm (1966) in August, and Counting the Ways (1976) and Listening (1976) in September. Coming up is The Lady From Dubuquq on November 15 and The Play About The Baby on December 13 (produced by The Black Box in its area premiere last Winter).

Edward Albee was born on March 12, 1928, and began writing plays 30 years later. His plays include The Zoo Story (1958), The Death of Bessie Smith (1959), The Sandbox (1959), The American Dream (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? (1961-62, Tony Award), Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize; 1996, Tony Award), All Over (1971), Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize), Listening (1975), Counting the Ways (1975), The Lady From Dubuque (1977-78), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981), Finding the Sun (1982), Marriage Play (1986-87), Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer Prize), Fragments (1993), The Play About the Baby (1997), The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? (2000, 2002 Tony Award), Occupant (2001), At Home at The Zoo: (Act 1, Homelife. Act 2, The Zoo Story) (2004), and Me, Myself & I (2008). Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980. In 1996 he received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts. In 2005, he was awarded a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Since Fall 2021, The Black Box has incubated new and under-produced plays by world-class artists such as Eric Bogosian, Paul Schrader, Beth Henley, Craig Lucas, Neil Labute, Daniel Handler, Ken Levine, and most recently John Patrick Shanley. Collaborations are now underway with The Estates of Sam Shepard and IB Singer as well as with artists including Craig Carnelia, Migdalia Cruz, John Lahr, Ishmael Reed, Halley Feiffer, and Billy Martin.