Edward Albee is 80 today and stll writing and directing

EDWARD Albee is 80 today.

And he's going to work.

The celebrated playwright is directing revivals of his early one-acts "The American Dream" and "The Sandbox," opening March 25 at the Cherry Lane Theatre.

After that, he goes into rehearsals for "Occupant," about his late friend sculptor Louise Nevelson. It stars Mercedes Ruehl and opens in June at the Signature Theatre.

Then it's on to the Broadway transfer of his new play "Me, Myself and I," about identical twins, that opened to raves last month at Princeton's McCarter Theatre.

And just as soon as his schedule allows, he's returning to one of his favorite places on Earth - Easter Island - to spend three weeks writing a play set there called "Silence."

"I've been to some impressive places," Albee says. "Egypt was impressive. So was the Yucatan and my first glacier. But Easter Island, out in the Pacific, a thousand miles away from anything - wow! The silence is amazing."

In the twilight of his life, Albee isn't coasting on his Pulitzers (three), his Tonys (two) or even his proclamation from the mayor designating today Edward Albee Day in New York City.

The proclamation sits on the kitchen floor, propped against the wall, in the spacious Harrison Street loft he bought 35 years ago for $40,000 and shares with his kitten, Abby, who darts merrily about his vast collection of African art.

The Tonys and the Pulitzers aren't on view. Nor are any posters from his 31 plays, among them "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" "A Delicate Balance," "Tiny Alice" and "Seascape."

"When I was young, I was always embarrassed to go into theater people's apartments and see all their posters on the walls," he says. "I decided that, if I ever got a poster or an award, I would never put it up.

"Well, maybe I'll put up 'The Man Who Had Three Arms,' " he adds, referring to his most notorious Broadway flop, which resulted in a 15-year banishment of sorts from the commercial New York theater. He returned, triumphantly, in 1994 with the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Three Tall Women."
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