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Edward Albee mostly mum on details of McCarter play

By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
   When writing his newest play, Edward Albee wasn’t daunted by the prospect of casting identical twins to fill the lead roles.
   ”Anything is possible in the theater,” the renowned playwright said Friday during a press conference for the upcoming world premier of “Me, Myself, and I,” which runs at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre Jan. 11 through Feb. 18.
   Though he and McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann interviewed several sets of twins who were suitably identical, “most of them couldn’t act their way out of a paper bag,” Mr. Albee said. “We didn’t end up with identical twins, but you’re not going to know it,” he said. “When you see the play, you’re going to see identical twins there.”
   Mr. Albee has been the recipient of numerous honors for his work and is best known for his 1962 play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
   ”Me, Myself and I” marks his latest collaboration with Ms. Mann and is the third of his plays to be produced at McCarter.
   But it’s the first to hold its premier there.
   However, Mr. Albee said he was nearly finished with the play when McCarter approached him about the commission.
   And he rarely considers the physical space when he’s writing a new play. “You write a play and then you find the place that is congenial for it,” he said. Will McCarter work this time?
   ”We’ll find out,” he said.
   Mr. Albee’s reluctance to speculate about how the play will fit in with its venue is indicative of his tendency to avoid specific questions about his current works.
   He prefers audiences to see his plays without any preconceived notions — about the plot or even about “what theater should be about.”
   According to Mr. Albee, theater should be provocative.
   ”I want a theater that engages people — not lets them escape. Escapism? Watch TV for that,” he said. “No, theater should engage you in thinking about social, political, philosophical and moral questions, and get you involved with people who are dealing with them responsibly and seriously.”
   He expects his current play to do just that.
   ”This is not an aggressively political play. But it’s about the way people live their lives,” he said. “I think so many people get to the end of their lives and discover that they really haven’t participated in their lives very much. They’ve sort of skidded their way through it. I think everybody should live right on the precipice.”
   Mr. Albee’s work often exists on that the edge, and his success has allowed him to continue to take risks, he said — something that younger playwrights can’t often do.
   ”People aren’t as willing to take chances with young playwrights,” he said. “‘Virginia Woolf’ cost $42,000 on Broadway in 1962. The last production on Broadway cost $1.7 million. And those costs are making cowards out of producers who are usually only knaves.”
   Still, Mr. Albee said he doesn’t reflect on his past achievements.
   Continuing to be a prolific playwright — one who doesn’t fall into a formula — takes concentration, he said.
   ”I’m more concerned with the one we’re doing right here,” he said. “You’ve got to be very much in the present tense. Because theater exists in the present tense.”