Edward Albee to teach at Princeton

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee will teach at Princeton University under a new playwriting fellowship.

The fellowship, funded by the Ford Foundation, will bring the 78-year-old playwright to the New Jersey campus in 2007.

He will also write a new play for the local McCarter Theater, which won a Tony Award in 1994 for outstanding regional theatre.

Albee has collaborated with McCarter artistic director Emily Mann previously, working with her in 2002 on his play All Over.

It is the first year of the Princeton University/McCarter Theater Playwriting Fellowship program.

Albee first gained notice with his play The Zoo Story in 1959.  He is also author of acclaimed works Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Delicate Balance and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

"Edward Albee acutely understands the function of art in a free society," Mann said. "As America's premier living playwright, he is also an incisive critic of American culture, and has dedicated much of his life to teaching the craft and art of writing for the stage."

The fellowship is part of a major initiative Princeton University announced in January to expand its support for creative and performing arts programs.