An Evening of Albee

THE AMERICAN DREAM: Albee explores not only the falsity of the American Dream but also the American family’s status quo.

THE SANDBOX: Beginning with brightest day, the Young Man is performing calisthenics (which he continues to do until the very end of the play) near a sandbox (or sandpit) at the beach. Mommy and Daddy have brought Grandma all the way out from the city and place her in the sandbox.
LISTENING: Constructed with the precision of a musical composition, and described by Clive Barnes as “a chamber opera and a symbolic poem about communication,” the play juxtaposes three characters: The Man, The Woman, and The Girl — and sifts through the tangled relationship that they have evidently shared.