A major publishing event - the first of a major three-volume publishing programme collecting one of the 20th century's greatest dramatists and cultural figures. Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and recipient of three Tony Awards, Edward Albee was awarded the gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1980, and in 1996 he received both the Kennedy Centre Honours and the National Medal of Arts. Ben Brantley of the New York Times has described him as 'one of the few genuinely great living American dramatists.' Now, Overlook Duckworth is proud to announce publication of the first volume of a three-volume collection of all of this master's plays, some of which have been out of print for years. Volume I contains the eight plays written by Albee during his first decade as a playwright, from 1958 through to 1965. These range from the four brilliant one-act plays with which he exploded on the New York theatre scene in 1958-59 (The Zoo Story, The Death of Bessie Smith, The Sandbox, and The American Dream) to his early masterpiece, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961-62). the Sad Cafe and Malcolm) and Albee's mysterious and fascinating Tiny Alice. The volume includes a new introductory piece written by Mr. Albee. Volumes II and III of Albee's collected plays will be published in successive seasons by Overlook Duckworth.