“Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at Riverside Theatre -- September 12 through 28.
Friday, September 12, through Sunday, September 28
Riverside Theatre, 119 East College Street, Iowa City IA
A legendary theatrical work that won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–1963 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens the 2025-26 season at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, this savagely funny and painfully emotional drama helmed by Riverside's artistic director Adam Knight and featuring venue favorites Tim Budd and Kristy Hartsgrove Mooers.
In Virginia Woolf?, George, a professor at a small college, and his wife Martha have just returned home, drunk from a Saturday-night party. Martha announces, amidst general profanity, that she has invited a young couple—an opportunistic new professor at the college and his shatteringly naïve new bride—to stop by for a nightcap. When they arrive, the charade begins, with the drinks flowing and inhibitions gradually melting. It becomes clear that Martha is determined to seduce the young professor, and George seemingly couldn’t care less. But underneath the edgy banter, which is crossfired between both couples, lurks an undercurrent of tragedy and despair. George and Martha’s inhuman bitterness toward one another, it becomes evident, is provoked by the enormous personal sadness that they have pledged to keep to themselves: a secret that has seemingly been the foundation for their relationship.
The print edition of Albee's play was published in 1962 and was one of the early releases of Atheneum Books. It sold over 70,000 copies in hard and soft cover editions. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? subsequently opened on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theatre on October 13, 1962. Director Alan Schneider's original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey, and George Grizzard as Nick, with subsequent cast members during the show's run including Henderson Forsythe, Eileen Fulton, Nancy Kelly, Mercedes McCambridge, and Elaine Stritch. Albee's instant success received 1963 Tony Awards for Best Actor, Actress, and Play, and while the work was selected for the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Drama by that award's drama jury, the advisory board – trustees of Columbia University – objected to its profanity and sexual themes, and overruled the jury, awarding no Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1963 at all.
Among Virginia Woolf's noteworthy Broadway revivals, the 2005 version won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for Bill Irwin's, and 2013's rendition received trophies for Best Revival of a Play and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Tracy Letts. The acclaimed 1966 film version, meanwhile, won five Oscars including Best Actress for Elizabeth Taylor (appearing opposite then-husband Richard Burton) and Best Supporting Actress Sandy Dennis.
Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Will be stage at the Iowa City theatre September 12 through 28, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There will also be a talkback with the performers and director hosted by Miriam Gilbert following the performance on Sunday, September; theatre guests don't need to attend the show to attend the talkback. Admission is $18-42, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)259-7099 and visiting RiversideTheatre.org.
