Albee, Gloria, 1931-

Feminist, editor, activist, and playwright, Gloria Albee was born in Brockton, Mass., the daughter of Rita (Cole) and Earl Albee. Her father died of tuberculosis in 1937 and the family lived on welfare until World War II, when her mother began working at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Mass. Her relationship with her mother was troubled, and she lived for a time with her grandmother and attempted suicide at age fifteen. In 1949 she graduated from Girls' High in Boston and attended Boston University for a year. She lived and worked in Boston, New Haven, and New York City during the 1950s, and in 1959 traveled to Cuba. Upon her return she joined the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the Socialist Workers Party. In 1961 she married Leonard Goodman; they had one daughter who died in 1997.

In 1971 Albee moved to Seattle where she attended the University of Washington (1972-1974) and was coordinator of the local Abortion Action Coalition, and served on the Women's Studies Advisory Committee at the university. She began writing plays in 1973, including Medea, The Yellow Wallpaper, Bringing the War Home, Society's Child, Helen of Sparta, and Nothing Personal. Returning to New York in 1975, Albee worked as a typesetter and office assistant while attending Sarah Lawrence (1975-1976) and Hunter (1986-1991) colleges. A founder of the Feminist Repertory Theater (Cambridge, Mass.) and co-chair of Action for Women in Theatre (New York, N.Y.), Albee served as editor of The Returning Woman (1988-1991), a student magazine at Hunter for women whose higher education was interrupted.