Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Performances

May 8-10 & 15-17, 2020 - Postponed

Venue

Community Players Theatre

Synopsis

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee first staged in 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of a middle-aged couple, Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive an unwitting younger couple, Nick and Honey, as guests, and draw them into their bitter and frustrated relationship. While other plays establish the difference between reality and illusion, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starts out with the latter but leans to the former. More specifically, George and Martha have evaded the ugliness of their marriage by taking refuge in illusion. The disappointment that is their life together leads to the bitterness between them.

The play won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–63 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play.

This play is Rated R. Due to adult content, themes, and language this show is not recommended for children.

Author: Edward Albee

Historian’s Corner

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee first staged in 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of a middle-aged couple.

The play won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–63 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play.  This play is Rated R. Due to adult content, themes, and language this show is not recommended for children.

The third play of the season had auditioned just before the COVID-19 outbreak.  The small cast show, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” had just gotten rehearsals underway when the closure of the theatre required the cast and director to rehearse via Zoom, the popular videoconferencing application for their nightly rehearsals. This worked for a short time, but the requirements for rehearsal changed. They needed to now work onstage and together.  The state’s requirements made that impossible and so Players had to postpone the production until further notice.  Ticket sales will be suspended until further notice.

The following statement was issued this evening, April 6, 2020, from the show’s director, Brett Cottone: “We hope that you, your friends, and your family are safe and healthy. The Illinois shelter-in-place rules and staying at home have changed all of our lives. Live theatre isn’t very easy to rehearse or patronize while practicing social distancing. Community Players Theatre is all about social inclusion and that makes our mission very difficult at this time.  Days before these new rules were put in place we had auditioned and cast our upcoming production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf". The show has been rehearsing online ever since but will obviously not be ready to perform for you in its original early May timeframe. At this time, we are announcing the official postponement of this show with the hopes that it will be ready for some much-needed entertainment and artistic release once the current shelter-in-place rules are lifted and we are able to congregate to enjoy live theatre as a group once again.  We know that the arts inspire hope and provide an escape from the everyday. The arts are perhaps needed now more than ever, to bring our community together, and keep us connected. We thank you for your understanding and patience at this time and we will keep you updated once we have updated performance dates to share.”