American Literature

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre The Oxford Companion to American Literature Further reading

Zoo Story, The

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | | Copyright

Zoo Story, The (1960), a one‐act play by Edward Albee. [Provincetown Playhouse, 582 perf.] Jerry ( George Maharis), a shabbily dressed, aggressively hostile young man, accosts Peter ( William Daniels), a mild‐mannered publisher, who is sitting quietly on a park bench, and begins to pour out his history and feelings. This includes telling of a dog at his boardinghouse whom kindness could not move and with whom cruelty allowed him to establish an impersonal modus vivendi. It soon becomes evident that Jerry is determined to die, by his own hand or by someone else's. His death wish is realized when he gets Peter to stab him with a knife. Presented earlier in Berlin, this talky, then suddenly dramatic, play established Albee as a promising writer. It was revived in 1963 with Albee's The American Dream, and since has been a staple in colleges and experimental theatres.

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Zoo Story, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Zoo Story, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-ZooStoryThe.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Zoo Story, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-ZooStoryThe.html

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Zoo Story, The

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | | Copyright

Zoo Story, The, play by Edward Albee.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Zoo Story, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Zoo Story, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-ZooStoryThe.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Zoo Story, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-ZooStoryThe.html

Learn more about citation styles

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