Irwin, Ruehl, Seldes and More Will Honor Albee at Vineyard Gala

By Ernio Hernandez
November 6, 2007

The Vineyard Theatre will celebrate Edward Albee's 80th birthday by honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright with a starry Rainbow Room tribute Feb. 4, 2008.

Tony Award winners and Albee veterans Bill Irwin, Mercedes Ruehl and Marian Seldes are slated to appear at the event, which "will celebrate Mr. Albee's 50-year career as one of the world's leading dramatists as he turns 80 during this theatrical season," according to an announcement. (Albee's actual birthday is March 12.) The Vineyard Theatre, which debuted Albee's Pulitzer winner Three Tall Women in 1993, will honor the scribe at the company's annual gala Feb. 4 at 6 PM.

Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Ruehl (The Goat, the upcoming Occupant) and Seldes(A Delicate Balance, Three Tall Women) will be among the roster of "actors and writers and other theatre artists," who will offer their salutations to Albee.

Several Albee works can be seen on the boards this season: Peter and Jerry (Second Stage), Me, Myself And I (McCarter Theatre) and revivals of The American Dream and The Sandbox (Cherry Lane Theatre) and Occupant (Signature Theatre).

Tickets for the Albee evening ($500-$2,500 and tables from $5,000-$25,000) at The Rainbow Room, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, are available by calling Vineyard's development department at (212) 353-3366 ext. 242. For more information visit vineyardtheatre.org.

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The Vineyard will open its 26th season with Julia Cho's The Piano Teacher (starting Oct. 30) with Elizabeth Franz starring. The troupe will continue with the new musical The Slug Bearers of Kayroll Island (or the Friends of Dr. Rushower) by Ben Katchor and Mark Mulcahy as well as a third mainstage production yet to be announced.