NEW YORK – Playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who depicted love, motherhood and sibling relations against a backdrop of feminism in such award-winning works as ‘The Heidi Chronicles’, died last week of cancer.
She was 55. Generally considered to be the play that put her on the map, ‘The Heidi Chronicles’ won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.It was a commercial success and ran for more than 600 performances after its 1988 Broadway premiere.On its heels came ‘The Sisters Rosensweig’ in 1993, which detailed the lives of three diverse siblings.Actress Glenn Close, who was in the cast of Wasserstein’s first play to gain attention, ‘Uncommon Women and Others’ in 1977, said she had vivid memories of the playwright.”She was very self-effacing and very smart and funny,” Close told Reuters.”She had a wonderful take on feminist issues, and you just knew that she was someone who was going to make her mark.”Wasserstein’s latest work, ‘Third’, premiered off Broadway last year.New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley said the lead character, like the title character in ‘The Heidi Chronicles’ 17 years earlier, was independent, strong, vulnerable and emotionally needy.Wasserstein, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, sweetly but shrewdly suggests in her works that life is “an unending identity crisis”, he wrote.Although arguably America’s most prominent female playwright for much of the last two decades, Wasserstein occasionally worked in other areas.According to Playbill.com, she wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film ‘The Object of My Affection’ and the children’s book ‘Pamela’s First Musical’, which she adapted into a musical with David Zippel and the late Cy Coleman.Sonny Mehta, chairman of the Knopf Publishing Group, and Victoria Wilson, Wasserstein’s long-time editor, said in a statement: “She was as well a writer of enormous talent and genuine spirit.Her works brought joy to many.Her admirers were legion.”Sharon Jensen, executive director of the Non-Traditional Casting Project in New York, said Wasserstein continued to grow as a person and a playwright.”As a result, it had a very positive impact on representing more of our humanity on the stage,” Jensen said.Indeed, Wasserstein herself said she knew her work was often identified with feminist themes and concerns but wanted to write for a broader audience and be more inclusive.”You hope that what you understand and know is not just of value to you alone,” she wrote in 1995.”I wouldn’t want an audience of only upper-class Jewish women to come to ‘The Sisters Rosensweig’.I wouldn’t want an audience of only feminists for ‘The Heidi Chronicles’.”I wouldn’t want an audience of all Wendy Wassersteins for any of my plays.That would be terrible!” – Nampa-ReutersGenerally considered to be the play that put her on the map, ‘The Heidi Chronicles’ won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.It was a commercial success and ran for more than 600 performances after its 1988 Broadway premiere.On its heels came ‘The Sisters Rosensweig’ in 1993, which detailed the lives of three diverse siblings.Actress Glenn Close, who was in the cast of Wasserstein’s first play to gain attention, ‘Uncommon Women and Others’ in 1977, said she had vivid memories of the playwright.”She was very self-effacing and very smart and funny,” Close told Reuters.”She had a wonderful take on feminist issues, and you just knew that she was someone who was going to make her mark.”Wasserstein’s latest work, ‘Third’, premiered off Broadway last year.New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley said the lead character, like the title character in ‘The Heidi Chronicles’ 17 years earlier, was independent, strong, vulnerable and emotionally needy.Wasserstein, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, sweetly but shrewdly suggests in her works that life is “an unending identity crisis”, he wrote.Although arguably America’s most prominent female playwright for much of the last two decades, Wasserstein occasionally worked in other areas.According to Playbill.com, she wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film ‘The Object of My Affection’ and the children’s book ‘Pamela’s First Musical’, which she adapted into a musical with David Zippel and the late Cy Coleman.Sonny Mehta, chairman of the Knopf Publishing Group, and Victoria Wilson, Wasserstein’s long-time editor, said in a statement: “She was as well a writer of enormous talent and genuine spirit.Her works brought joy to many.Her admirers were legion.”Sharon Jensen, executive director of the Non-Traditional Casting Project in New York, said Wasserstein continued to grow as a person and a playwright.”As a result, it had a very positive impact on representing more of our humanity on the stage,” Jensen said.Indeed, Wasserstein herself said she knew her work was often identified with feminist themes and concerns but wanted to write for a broader audience and be more inclusive.”You hope that what you understand and know is not just of value to you alone,” she wrote in 1995.”I wouldn’t want an audience of only upper-class Jewish women to come to ‘The Sisters Rosensweig’.I wouldn’t want an audience of only feminists for ‘The Heidi Chronicles’.”I wouldn’t want an audience of all Wendy Wassersteins for any of my plays.That would be terrible!” – Nampa-Reuters
