THEATRE PREVIEW:

“ALBEE’S MEN” at the Neurosciences Institute Auditorium

Published in San Diego Union-Tribune April, 1997

"The renaissance of Edward Albee," wrote Michael Feingold in The Village Voice, "is one of the happiest events in the history of American playwriting."

At age 65, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright was considered by some to be a supernova, a star that had flared and burned out. Then, in 1994, he won his third Pulitzer -- for his most autobiographical work, "Three Tall Women."

But it's not his women that have captured the imagination of actor Stephen Rowe and director Glyn O'Malley. It's "Albee's Men," the title of a work-in-progress having its world premiere in San Diego tomorrow. You could, in fact, apply the title to Rowe and O'Malley themselves.

O'Malley, an internationally produced playwright in his own right, served as Albee's assistant for many years in New York. As associate producer at the Vienna English Theatre (1984-1996), he shepherded Albee productions of “The Zoo Story," "Counting the Ways," the world premiere of "Marriage Play," and the 1991 world premiere of "Three Tall Women," which he recently directed in Portland.

According to press releases, Rowe "has probably played more Albee roles than any other working actor." That might explain why this duo's concept marks the first time Albee has allowed anyone to excerpt his material. (That factoid could never be confirmed, however, since Albee could not be contacted. He was jetting around the country, scooping up awards, and though he had agreed to an interview, he failed to return a week of phone calls -- from this writer, the director, the producer and his own secretary -- and made himself singularly unreachable).

This project was born last summer. Rowe had been looking for a one-man show. After hearing Albee do a reading of some of his pieces, Rowe realized that "there's a performance in there, and I certainly have an affinity for the material." The actor had spent a year on an international tour of "Albee Directs Albee"; the playwright was familiar with his work and gave him the go-ahead.

"It's remarkable material," said Rowe by phone from Cambridge, where he's rehearsing Shaw's "Man and Superman" at the American Repertory Theatre, of which he is a founding member. "There are so many layers; there's no bottom to some of these pieces. That's what the joy is."

In "Albee's Men," Rowe tackles nine monologues from seven plays. Because Albee will speak with the audience after the performance, this is an abbreviated version of the new collage. In its presumed after-life, the piece will include two more characters/monologues, and a two-act format. The next presentation will be in August, at the annual Edward Albee Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska.

"It's like the seven ages of Albee's men," explains the 49 year-old Rowe, "from 15 to 65. It's a kind of montage; there's no narration. There is some slight physical transformation, but the aging and the development is in the material. It's like creating a new man out of parts of other organisms."

The monologues span three decades of writing, from "The Zoo Story" (1958) to Albee's best-known work, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1962), from 1983's critically decimated "The Man Who Had Three Arms," to the recent "Fragments: A Concerto Grosso" (1993).

"These are nine very different characters," Rowe continues, "but they're all somehow in the same family. They all have the same genes."

O'Malley, who recently moved to San Diego, says "Some of the pieces are quite beautiful; one is very disturbing. They're all very insightful. We're trying to keep it as simple as possible. There will be very few production elements; just the shape of the psyches of these men.

"We want audiences to see the depth of the author. Edward's a poet, and he treats soul material: comfort, loss, desire, protection... What people love about his work is that he captures the conflict in people, the desire to love and to leave. These men aren't always 'together'; maybe you need to let your life fall apart for it to work. Maybe that's where the answer lies..."

The piece evolved with Albee's input; it came together when the Playwrights Project, a local education organization that works to promote creativity in young people statewide, began planning for Albee's annual visit as Artistic Advisor. As part of Performing Arts at The Neurosciences Institute, "Albee's Men" is the first theatrical event to be held in the elegant, acoustically excellent auditorium.

For those who know Albee's work, and for initiates, this is an opportunity to sample the writing that has been described as "a famous amalgam of bitchiness and poignance," filled with "grim satire and hilarious comedy." As C.W.E. Bigsby put it in a critical essay, "few playwrights have been so frequently and mischievously misunderstood, misrepresented, overpraised, denigrated and precipitatedly dismissed."

[POSSIBLE ADDITION] Mr. Albee spends all day Friday as part of the SDSU Drama Department's fifteenth annual design/performance jury. He joins five other renowned theater professionals in critiquing the work of student actors, directors and designers.

DATEBOOK

"ALBEE'S MEN"

The world premiere one-man work-in-progress, featuring Stephen Rowe, directed by Glyn O'Malley, will be followed by a discussion with the playwright. Friday night only, 8 p.m. April 18. The Neurosciences Institute Auditorium, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla. $20; 491-4984.

The SDSU Drama Department Design/Performance Jury is also on Friday, April 18, from 9:30a.m. to 3:00p.m. It is free and open to the public. Experimental Theatre, SDSU campus.

PAT LAUNER is a San Diego-based freelance writer.

©1997 Patté Productions Inc.