She immigrated to the U.S. with her mother and a sister after the death of her father. They settled in New York. and she became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1951. She was talented in the visual arts, and initially planned to become a painter. When she saw Roger Blin's original production of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" in Paris, it changed her direction in life. She went on to write more than 40 plays that would influence American theater, but without gaining mainstream success.