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One becomes aware
that one is a Play wright.
[When asked about the report that Thornton Wilder had encouraged him to
become a playwright, Albee answered:
"Yes, he encouraged me - indirectly. I met him when I was a young
man and he was kind enough to look at some of my poetry. He suggested
that I try my hand at playwriting - but I think he may have been trying
to save poetry."]
Q: How does one
become a great playwright?
A: I don't know.
Q: Who are the
"great American playwrights" (as well as yourself)?
A: I mistrust that word "great." Greatness is something
that is determined 150 years down the road. But we can use the word "important."
Certainly O'Neillis an important play wright; and Williams; and Miller
has written a lot of good stuff.
Q: As an artist,
how did you come to choose theatre as your medium?
A: Because I had failed at all other branches of writing. I started
writing poetry at the age of eight; and I wrote two novels in my middle
teens.
Q: Were the novels
ever published?
A: (Laughing.) No!
Q: Do you still
have the manuscripts?
A: Yes - but they will never be seen by anyone!
Q: At which point
does "a good idea" become a solid concept for a play?
A: When it won't go away.
Q: What most essentially
is the Playwright's responsibility?
A: There are several. The playwright's responsibility is to write
honestly, skillfully, and movingly about that stuff that people should
be paying attention to.
Q: How often do
you view various productions of your plays?
A: I get to see a fair number of productions. Sometimes I'm happy
with them; sometimes I'm not.
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It is interesting
that current productions of plays that I wrote years ago are frequently
better understood now than when they were new.
Q: How widely
have your works been produced?
A: All over the world. Latin America, Europe, Asia. And I believe
some of my work was rather popular in the former Soviet Union, but one
wouldn't hear anything from over there about performances of one's plays
at that time.
Q: How much control
does a playwright actually have over his own work?
A: We have control over the selection of the actors, the directors,
and the translations; and of course there can be no cuts or changes to
the text without our permission. So, we really have as much control as
we need if we bother to exert the controls.
Q: Do you have
a favorite play?
A: Yes - my own. I am happiest with the play I am working on at
the moment, because no one has had the chance to find anything wrong with
it yet.
Q: What are you
working on now?
A: I have recently completed a play that will hopefully be staged
in New York in the spring.
Q: Does it yet
have a title?
A: It is entitled The Goat. And I am cur rently at work
on a play about the artist Louise Nevelson, the flamboyant surreal ist
sculptor. She was a friend of mine.
Q: Does that play
yet have a title?
A: Yes - it's title is Occupant.
Q: Your upcoming
lecture at ODU also has an interesting title: "The Playwright vs.
The Theatre."
A: That enables me to say almost anything.
Q: In a hundred
years, how would you want to be remembered?
A: The fact of being remembered would be enough. Not that I would
care very much... •
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