extraordinary piece of writing. Those two plays started
the season and I think it really had a hand in grounding our
audiences and our community and helping people start that
journey with Irene.
Adrienne’s an incredible writer, and to get to bring her into
the Signature family was a really important moment for us
as a company.
In the case of Adrienne Kennedy, I was actually introduced
to her work by Edward. At the end of his season, I asked
Edward about other writers he admired and he immediately
mentioned Adrienne. At the time, I wasn’t very familiar
with her writing, so I just dove in head first and was blown
away by the scope and complexity. Adrienne is one of the
great poets of the Off Broadway movement. But when I
first approached her about doing a season of her work at
Signature, she turned me down. So I asked her again, and
she turned me down again! Finally, Michael Kahn, who has
directed several of Adrienne’s plays and is a trusted friend
of hers, persuaded her to do it. And I’m so glad she did.
S: What memories stand out to you now from those
first Signature productions of The Sandbox, Drowning,
and Funnyhouse of a Negro?
JH: For The Sandbox, we built a five-foot square box for the
play to take place in – and when I say “we,” I mean myself and
a few volunteers. We had almost no money and luckily got
some help from a guy who owned a shop and would give us
some of the construction materials we needed. So, we built
the box and put the sand in. Edward was out in the house
looking at it – staring at it, really. He starts walking all through
the seats of the theatre. He goes to the front row, he goes to
the middle, he goes to the side. And then he says, “It’s too
It was like that season at Signature
reminded the theatre community of
the depth and breadth and quality
of Edward’s body of work.
(left to right) Jim Houghton and María Irene Fornés, 1999; Edward Albee
and the cast of Sand, 1994; Ellen Bethea and Cleve Lamison in Adrienne
Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro, 1995; Jane Hoffman and
Earl Nash in Edward Albee’s The Sandbox, 1994.
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