This spring at Choate, the Student Playwriting Festival might havean extra feature if renowned playwright and Choate alumnus Edward Albee ‘46 comes for a visit. Despite the exciting news, his visit is not yet official. “We are still working things out with him. But it appears that he will be coming as well as helping me choose scripts,” said Drama instructor Tracy Ginder-Delventhal who is in charge of the festival.

This extra incentive is sure to boost the interest in the festival (Tracy Ginder-Delventhal mentioned it when announcing the festival at a recent school meeting) and she is currently taking applications for directors and costume and set designers for this year’s plays, as well as accepting script submissions. If he comes, he would help choose the scripts and also come later to work with the students. He has also come to work with the theater department previously.

Albee has been called one of the leading dramatists of his time, especially known for his Tony Awardwinning play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? that won a Tony award. It depicts the all-night drinking bout of a professor and his wife. His first published play, Schism, appeared in The Lit (Choate’s literary magazine) in 1946, his senior year. In 2002, Albee’s tragicomedy The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? was released and also was given a Tony Award. Anotherrecent play of Albee’s was Occupant, a play about Louise Nevelson, an American sculptor. He has won three Pulitzer Prizes for A Delicate Balance, Seascape, and Three Tall Women, in 1967, 1975, and 1994, respectively.

His other plays include The Lady from Dubuque (1980), MarriagePlay (1987), and The Play about the Baby (1998), The Zoo Story (1959), The Death of Bessie Smith (1960), The Sandbox (1960), The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1963), and Tiny Alice (1965). His playwriting is characterized by commentary on Americanlife found.

Students involved in the Playwriting Festival are very excited andeager to take part in this special opportunity. Irene Zhang ’08, who was an actor in the festival last year, said, “It’s great that Edward Albee may be coming to Choate to work with the student playwrights this year! I think we will have well-written playsin the Festival, which will be very interesting for both the actors and the audience.”

Lauren Provini ’08, who was also an actor in the festival last year, said, “It is wonderful that such a renowned playwright mightcome to Choate to see the performance. From my experience in the Playwriting Festival last year, I know that he will be highly impressed with the talent of playwriting and actinghere at Choate.”