Vineyard Theatre Honors Edward Albee Feb.4 at Rainbow Room

The Vineyard Theatre - where Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Three Tall Women debuted in 1993 - will honor the playwright on the occasion of his 80th birthday at the theatre's annual gala on Monday, February 4 at 6 PM at The Rainbow Room (30 Rockefeller Plaza, 65th floor) in Manhattan.

The evening will celebrate Albee's 50-year career as one of the world's leading dramatists as he turns 80 during this theatrical season.  (His actual birthday is March 12, 2008.)

The Gala - which will benefit The Vineyard Theatre, one of the nation's leading theatres devoted to presenting new works - will include salutations to Albee by a host of actors and writers and other theatre artists, including Bill Irwin, Tony Award-winner for his performance in the revival of Albee's masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; another Tony winner, Mercedes Ruehl, who appeared on Broadway in Albee's 2002 Tony Award-winning play The Goat, and will appear this season in his new play Occupant; and the beloved Marian Seldes, who won a Tony Award in 1967 for her performance in the original cast of Albee's A Delicate Balance, and whose many appearances in plays by Mr. Albee include at The Vineyard Theatre in Three Tall Women.

The Vineyard Theater - under the leadership of Douglas Aibel, Artistic Director - is presenting the Gala in conjunction with Albee's longtime producer, Elizabeth Ireland McCann. Ms. McCann and co-producers Daryl Roth and Jeffrey Ash joined forces with The Vineyard in 1993 to transfer the theatre's sold-out production of Three Tall Women to the Promenade Theatre, where the play ran Off-Broadway for three years, prior to a successful national tour and an engagement in the West End.  McCann has subsequently produced many of Mr. Albee's other plays including The Goat and the recent revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin on Broadway, as well as The Play About The Baby and Beckett/Albee starring Marian Seldes and Brian Murray Off-Broadway.

Widely-considered America's foremost living playwright, Edward Albee is the winner of the Pulitzer for his plays A Delicate Balance, Three Tall Women and Seascape.  He has won two Tony Awards, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Goat, starring Bill Pullman and Mercedes Ruehl in 2002.  He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council, and President of The Edward F. Albee Foundation.  Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980, and in 1996 received the Kennedy Center Honors and National Medal of Arts.  In 2005, he received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The Vineyard Gala tribute to Edward Albee is one of the highlights of a theatrical season during which the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner is receiving four productions of his work at theatres in and around New York: Peter and Jerry (comprised of his first play Zoo Story and a new play Homelife); the world-premiere of Me, Myself and I; revivals of The American Dream and The Sandbox, which the playwright will direct; and Occupant starring Ruehl.

Last year the Vineyard honored its other Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive, Pulitzer 1998) with a playwriting award in her name. That star-studded evening included tributes to Ms. Vogel by John Guare, Julianne Moore, Bart Freundlich, Lili Taylor, Anna Paquin, S. Epetha Merkerson, Judy Kuhn, Cheyenne Jackson, Paul Rudd, Patricia Clarkson and the cast of [title of show].

The following individuals and corporations have already made generous commitments to support the 2008 Vineyard Gala. Gala Chairs: Rick Dean , Gretchen Shugart; Vice Chairs: Jill Gabbe, Ken Greiner, Jeffrey Steinman; Gala Committee: Celine Armstrong, Kathleen Chalfant, Jane Chesnutt, Barbara Zinn Krieger, Richard McCune, David Schwartz, Frank Selvaggi; Corporate Supporters: Art Meets Commerce, gabbegroup, Scotia Capital and Theatermania.com

Douglas Aibel is the Artistic Director of Vineyard Theatre; Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell is Executive Director.

Tickets for the evening range from $500 - $2500 and tables from $5000 - $25,000.  For reservations and more information, please contact the development department at 212-353-3366 x242. www.vineyardtheatre.org

Photo of Edward Albee by Carol Rosegg