Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Playwright Edward Albee Is Dead At 88
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Sep 17, 2016
Modified Sep 17, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Getty
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Sep 17, 2016
Modified Sep 17, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Edward Albee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who penned Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Zoo Story, and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, among others, died in Montauk yesterday. He was 88 years old.
Albee, who grew up in Westchester, moved to Greenwich Village in the 1950s, where he began writing plays. The Zoo Story, a one-act piece about two men who meet on a park bench in Central Park, was his debut, and premiered in West Berlin (alongside a Samuel Beckett play) in 1959. The Zoo Story was performed in Greenwich Village the following year, helping to launch Off-Broadway productions.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, which is perhaps Albee's most famous play, premiered on Broadway in 1962—it won a Tony Award for best play, and was later turned into a film with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Albee went on to produce dozens of plays, all of which dealt with isolationism, dashed hope, and frustration with contemporary, post-World War II America. One of Albee's final plays, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? was performed on Broadway in 2002, and won another Tony. He won Pulitzers for A Delicate Balance, All Over, and Three Tall Women.
Albee was openly gay, and longtime partner Jonathan Thomas predeceased him in 2005.
Tagged
edward albee
obituary
Rebecca Fishbein
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Published Oct 8, 2026
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
If you're playing tourist in your own town, this is an in-demand option.
By
James Ramsay
Arts & Entertainment
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
If you're playing tourist in your own town, this is an in-demand option.
By
James Ramsay
What happens when NYC kids take lessons in rock music? Really good bands.
By
Jayson Greene
Inside a photographer's journey to visit every neighborhood in New York City
By
Sonia Rao
Banned books and Winnie the Pooh: October in NYC libraries
By
Alec Hamilton
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .