Dan's Papers - March 14, 2008 - When In Manhattan

For a man who has spent over a half a century writing dialogue, Edward Albee is rather economical with his words. We chatted last week about his upcoming plays The American Dream and The Sandbox, which are being revived at the Cherry Lane Theater this month. "A lot of my first plays were done at the Cherry Lane and that's a theater I enjoy working in," he said. In honor of his 80th birthday, Cherry Lane offered the playwright the opportunity to direct these two connected plays.

After finishing his debut play Zoo Story, and The Death of Bessie Smith, Albee began work on The American Dream. The one act play is a bizarre dark comedy where the themes of a Greek tragedy meet the superficial citizens of American society. The dysfunctional, self-involved family members - Mommy, Daddy and Grandma - are at each other's throats. As the play opens, Mommy's rambling about a "beige" hat is forced upon Daddy, who sits as they wait for someone to arrive and fix an unknown (to the audience) problem. Grandma, who suffers from a compulsion to beautifully wrap boxes (a metaphor for superficiality) battles against her daughter. They're ugly people; petty and shallow. Their language is dismissive and their emphasis on getting satisfaction forces one to wonder if they will ever be satiated.

The play takes a turn when Mrs. Barker arrives at their door. She isn't exactly sure why she's there, and neither Mommy nor Daddy seem too eager to let her in on the secret. The audience, too, is completely in the dark until Grandma, in a roundabout way, explains everything - but I won't.

In the middle of writing The American Dream in 1959, Albee was commissioned to write a 15-minute play for the Spoleto Festival in Italy. He took Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma (the characters from The American Dream) and brought them to the beach for The Sandbox. The short play reinforces Mommy and Daddy's lack of appreciation for humanity. They place Grandma in a sandbox overlooking the ocean, order musicians to begin playing, and then wait for her demise at the hands of the Angel of Death.

In a Paris Review interview at Albee's Montauk home in 1966 he said, "With the possible exception of the little play The Sandbox, which takes thirteen minutes to perform, I don't think anything I've done has worked out to perfection." I recently asked him why he felt it was perfect and his reason was simple, "If you write a play that's thirteen to fifteen minutes long, you don't have many chances to make a mistake. If I'd gone on for another five minutes I probably would have made a mistake somewhere."

The American Dream has been called Albee's first dip into the Theater of the Absurd. During its opening run in 1961 critics attacked it for its surreal nature and insincerity in dealing with severe subject matter. This time around, the play might not have the same effect as it had originally. This is by no fault of the playwright but of society. Due to their desensitized nature, a younger audience will not be so quick to shut down after the horror is revealed. Instead, they will be able to listen and understand Albee's still-relevant critique of the "American scene," his "attack on the substitution of artificial for real values in our society, a condemnation of complacency, cruelty, emasculation, and vacuity." The same argument can be made for The Sandbox, after all, according to Albee "they're two separate pieces about the same subjects, basically."

This is an incredible occasion to see both plays performed in a single night by a stellar cast, hand picked by the playwright/director. When the houselights go down and the action begins on stage, take a moment to listen to Albee's mastery of language, his ability to create characters through nothing more than words. It is a stunning example of why Edward Albee is considered American's greatest living playwright.

Several interesting events surround the play. On March 18 and April 8, audiences are invited to an intimate Q&A with the three-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright after the show. The other event is the Opening Night Celebration, following the March 25 performance, where audience members can rub elbows with the cast, playwright and others for $300 a person. Previews for The American Dream and The Sandbox began March 11. The play opens March 25 and closes April 19. For tickets and show information visit www.cherrylanetheatre.org or call (212) 239-6200.