Always the mischievous one, Edward Albee twirled his newest American Theatre Wing Tony Award® medallion--and smiled.

He received his honor during the first segment of the 2005 Tony ceremony, before the telecast began. That portion of the event was webcast exclusively on TonyAwards.com

The author of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Delicate Balance faced a standing ovation when he received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre from presenter Sally Field. In his thank-you speech, Albee said, "You made me a happy playwright."

Albee dedicated his Tony Award to his life partner, Jonathan Thomas, who died a month ago.

Field recently starred in the Broadway production of Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?. She praised Albee for writing 28 plays in the spirit of Ionesco, Pinter, Beckett and Arthur Miller. She said: "You, sir, are a national treasure."

The Regional Theatre Tony Award

The Constant Wife star Kate Burton, in a scarlet dress, beautifully pronounced the French-derived name of the Minneapolis troupe that wasthis year's Regional Theatre Tony Award recipient: Theatre de la Jeune Lune.

Burton praised Jeune Lune for its "strong physicality," "sense of play," and "artistic vision" in creating theatre pieces that are influenced by Jacque sLecoq's Paris school of mime.

Idina Menzel, a 2004 Tony Award-winner as the star of Wicked, handed out the design awards for plays and musicals later that evening. The Light in the Piazza, the gorgeous Lincoln Center Theater musical, took home four Tony Awards for Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Christopher Akerlind), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Michael Yeargan), Best Costume Design of a Musical (Catherine Zuber), and Best Orchestrations (Adam Guettel, Ted Sperling and Bruce Coughlin).

Pillowman took home two play design Tony Awards: Best Lighting Design (Brian MacDevitt) and Best Scenic Design (Scott Pask).

By Design

The Rivals, another Lincoln Center Theater production, won the Best Costume for a Play for designer Jess Goldstein.

The presentation of the design awards was relatively straightforward, with several funny instances. The first hilarious moment happened when time started running out during MacDevitt's thank-you speech. He wasn't done when the music began to play, and he quickly said, "There's one more thing." The remark was greeted with laughs, and then applause when it turned out he wanted to thank "the greatest stagehands in New York."

Another moment that warmed the audience's heart was Scott Pask's speech. Upon receiving his Tony Award, he said that nobody had prepared him for that winning moment when he was still in living in a trailer park in Arizona.

Randy Gener is the senior editor of American Theatre magazine and the author of the plays, Love Seats for Virginia Woolf and What Remains of a Rembrandt Torn into Four Pieces, among others.

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The Tony Awards are presented by Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing.