ALBEE, Edward | Three Tall Women playscript

Albee, Edward. Playscript. Three Tall Women. Undated [circa 1991].

4to.; title page shaken; metal-stay bound; blue wrappers stamped in white; William Morris Agency branding; open spine.

Uncorrected proof. 

Three Tall Women is a two-act play by Edward Albee that premiered at Vienna’s English Theatre in 1991. The three unnamed women, one in her 90s, one in her 50s, and one in her 20s, are referred to in the script as A, B, and C. The character of A, the oldest woman, is based in part on Albee's mother. In the first act, B is the caretaker and C is the lawyer for A, while in the second act they become personifications of A from earlier in her life. This pre-production script is in an earlier state than the first edition and bears some small but significant differences.  

Three Tall Women’s world premiere was directed by Albee, with a cast that included Myra Carter as the Old Woman, Kathleen Butler as the Middle-Aged Woman, Cynthia Bassham as the Young Woman, and Howard Nightingall as the Boy. An off-Broadway production of Three Tall Women in 1994 won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Albee's third Pulitzer. Critics widely considered the play a return to form for Albee, after a string of critical failures in the 1980s. Three Tall Women premiered on Broadway in 2018, again earning significant acclaim, especially for Glenda Jackson’s Tony-winning performance.