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Playwright Edward Albee Admits That He’s Knocked Up

Albee and his brain.Photo: Getty Images


Typically, Edward Albee will only teach you how to become a better playwright if you have a body of work that he deems worthy of one of his classes. Saturday at the Times Center, though, the master offered up instructive sound bites to everyone in attendance: He discussed why he chose playwriting over other forms (“The short story and I had great differences about its nature, and the short story was right”), his opinion about actors (“I want them to do anything they want as long as it ends up exactly as I intended”), and how he feels about his own characters (“People onstage do not talk the way people in real life talk — they talk coherently”). The three-time Pulitzer winner proved to be especially coherent. Saying that his style of writing is to “let my brain do what it wants,” Albee said that he’s currently “knocked up” (his term) with his 32nd play, of which he’s only come up with the title, Silence. He expects that his brain will complete it this summer. —Elizabeth Black

Playwright Edward Albee Admits That He’s Knocked Up