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Black Box's "Edward Albee: From A to Zoo" Begins May 24th

originally published: 05/18/2023 

(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- The Black Box, Northern NJ's incubator for new and under produced works from world-class artists, kicks off Edward Albee: From A to Zoo, a remarkable new series on Wednesday, May 24th at 8 East Palisade Avenue, 2nd Floor, between Dean Street and Van Brunt in Englewood, NJ. In association with The Estate of Edward Albee, this series runs from the masterworks to the rarely and almost never seen - and includes some hidden gems from the Albee canon.

This curated monthly series begins on Wednesday, May 24th at 7:30pm with two groundbreaking one-acts, The Sandbox (1959) and The American Dream (1960).  Directed by BB Artistic Director Mastt Okin, the first evening's cast features BB Rep Co regulars Michael Gardiner, Danielle MacMath, Ilana Schimmel, J Niles, Deb MacLean, and musician Ben Shanblatt, with Production Stage Manager Eva Burke.

Each play reading will 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. Additional guests will soon be announced. General admission seating is free yet limited for each evening in this series. Finding the Sun and Marriage Play comes up in June, and July brings us Everything in the Garden, with the remaining '23 schedule soon-to-be-announced.

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.

Starting Fall 2021 The Black Box sought press-worthy, artistically satisfying opportunities to save our Northern NJ theater during the height of the pandemic.  This led to The Black Box’s incubation of new and under-produced plays offered to us by world-class artists such as Eric Bogosian, Paul Schrader, Beth Henley, Craig Lucas, Neil Labute, John Guare, and Caridad Svich. Collaborations are underway with The Estates of Sam Shepard and IB Singer as well as with artists including Craig Lucas & Craig Carnelia, Nicky Silver, Migdalia Cruz, John Lahr, Daniel Handler, Ken Levine, Ishmael Reed, Billy Martin, and Halley Feiffer.

 

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