Celebrated playwright Terrence McNally presented Washington’s top theater award, the Helen Hayes Tribute, to his renowned "friend, colleague, and ex", Edward Albee April 5 at the 26th annual Helen Hayes Awards ceremony.

McNally and Albee traded quips about their eight-year intimate relationship, while praising each other as dramatists.

(The next day, McNally quietly wed his long-time partner Tom Kirdahy in DC, where same sex marriage was legalized last month.)

Tony® and Pulitzer-winner Albee recounted meeting McNally at a "theatrical cocktail party" in 1960 when McNally was a "real knockout blond guy -- with hair in those days."

McNally told Albee he was a Columbia University student and a playwright. So Albee told him, "'Maybe we should talk about playwriting.' And for eight years, we did."

Albee, who was born in DC and adopted by the Albees of Larchmont, NY, decided to be a writer at age six. His nanny took him to New York City to see "Jumbo" with Jimmy Durante, known for his large nose, and "a small elephant -- it was hard to tell them apart..."

"My tastes were innocent in those days," Albee reminisced to the sold-out audience's delight. "It was my first experience of avant-garde, and the absurd."

Albee’s first play, “The Zoo Story”, ran on a bill with Samuel Beckett's “Krapp’s Last Tape” for five performances in October 1968 at Broadway’s Billy Rose Theatre.

Thirty plays, and about 42 years later, Albee said he was "grateful and surprised that anyone would give me an award for doing something I enjoy so much."

Three of Albee's plays won Pulitzer Prizes: "Three Tall Women", about his reconciliation with his mother; "A Delicate Balance"; and "Seascape".

His "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" had been selected for a Pulitzer, but the Pulitzer's advisory board overruled the decision because of the play's controversial themes, McNally noted.

Paying tribute to McNally, Albee said, "I judge society by how Terrence's plays are treated."

Albee mentioned the recent cancellation of McNally's "Corpus Christi" in Dallas. (Controversy about the play continues here in DC regarding a Gallaudet University production scheduled April 8-10 in conjunction with "Erase the Hate" week.)

Albee said, "I applaud Terrence for his courage as a playwright."

McNally, who received the 2004 Helen Hayes Tribute, hailed Albee for "reminding us of the vitality, passion, and real guts of how Americans speak to each other -- or should. Ed is never afraid to pick at the scabs."

McNally also praised Albee for "steadfastly, generously, loyally, and almost anonymously supporting the arts."

In 1967, with proceeds from the play "Who's Afraid...", he established the Edward F. Albee Foundation to serve writers, visual artists, and composers by providing, as Virginia Woolf called it, "A Room of One's Own.".

McNally wrote the book for “Ragtime”, the biggest winner with five Hayes Awards. After its Kennedy Center run last spring, "Ragtime" continued to Broadway, where again it received huge critical acclaim before closing in January.

McNally's “Nights at the Opera” trilogy has been at Kennedy Center since mid-March. Tyne Daly stars as Maria Callas in “Master Class” through April 18; “The Lisbon Traviata” with Malcolm Gets runs until April 11; and “Golden Age” closed its run on April 3.

The coveted Hayes awards are named for the “First Lady of the American Theater”. The DC native saw her first play at age five at Washington's National Theatre. Eighty years later, in 1984, she presided over the inaugural presentation of her namesake awards.

For the full list of award recipients and nominees, click here.
 

For more info: Helen Hayes Awards, www.helenhayes.org.