Black Box PAC presents Staged Reading of “At Home At The Zoo” by Edward Albee

(TEANECK, NJ) — In association with The Estate of Edward Albee, Black Box PAC presents a staged reading of At Home At The Zoo (1959/2004) on Wednesday, March 20th, 2024 at Debonair Music Hall. Originally titled Peter & Jerry, At Home At The Zoo combines Albee’s classic short play The Zoo Story (1959) with its prequel, Homelife (2004). Together these short plays form a complete story of Peter, a publishing executive; Ann, his wife; and Jerry, a stranger Peter meets in the park. Showtime is 7:30pm.

The play begins with Homelife, and offers a revealing look at Peter and Ann’s rocky marriage, their brutal attempts to communicate, and the loneliness within their shared life. The tension escalates in the next act, The Zoo Story. While reading on a Central Park bench, a stranger walks up to Peter and declares that he has “been to the zoo!” The man, Jerry, begins to tell tale after tale, probe deep into Peter’s life, and attempt to take the bench for himself.  In an introduction to At Home At The Zoo, Mr. Albee explains why he decided to change his one-act play into a two-act play: “How did The Zoo Story become a two-act play? It’s really very simple: it always had been; I just hadn’t told myself.”

The performance will feature Michael Gardiner, Justin Jager, and Alexandra Brokowski.  Following the show, join us for conversation with the cast, director Matt Okin, and Jakob Holder, Executive Director of The Edward F. Albee Foundation and Mr. Albee’s longest serving assistant.

Reserve seats at www.blackboxpac.com. Debonair Music Hall is located at 1409 Queen Anne Road b/w State Street and Walraven Drive in Teaneck, New Jersey. It is adjacent to free street and lot parking, and the venue offers ground floor entry.

From the masterworks to the rarely seen, this curated monthly series began in May 2023 with The Sandbox (1959) and The American Dream (1960), and continued with Finding The Sun (1983) and Marriage Play (1983) last June; The Man Who Had Three Arms (1983) in July, Malcolm (1966) in August; Counting the Ways (1976) and Listening (1976) in September; Fragments (A Sit-Around) in October; a special workshop presentation of The State of Unions: Marriage Play & Counting the Ways was featured in November; The Play About The Baby in December; and The Lady from Dubuque in January.

Edward Albee was born on March 12, 1928, and began writing plays 30 years later. His plays include The Zoo Story (1958), The Death of Bessie Smith (1959), The Sandbox (1959), The American Dream (1960), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? (1961-62, Tony Award), Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize; 1996, Tony Award), All Over (1971), Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize), Listening (1975), Counting the Ways (1975), The Lady From Dubuque (1977-78), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981), Finding the Sun (1982), Marriage Play (1986-87), Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer Prize), Fragments (1993), The Play About the Baby (1997), The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? (2000, 2002 Tony Award), Occupant (2001), At Home at The Zoo: (Act 1, Homelife. Act 2, The Zoo Story) (2004), and Me, Myself & I (2008). Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980.  In 1996 he received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.  In 2005, he was awarded a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Since Fall 2021, Black Box PAC has incubated new and under-produced plays by world-class artists such as Eric Bogosian, Paul Schrader, Beth Henley, Craig Lucas, Neil Labute, Daniel Handler, Ken Levine, and John Patrick Shanley. Collaborations are now underway with The Estates of Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, and I.B. Singer as well as with artists including John Lahr, Halley Feiffer, Billy Martin, and more.

Debonair Music Hall is a live music venue that brings the best national touring acts and local bands to Teaneck, NJ. Enjoy delicious food and drinks while you experience the electrifying energy of live music. Black Box PAC, along with the event producer and colaborative educational theater company Black Box Studios, is now ‘in residence” at Debonair Music Hall.