Wendy Wasserstein (1950–2006)
Author of Elements of Style
About the Author
Wendy Wasserstein was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 18, 1950. She received an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College, an M.A. at City College of New York and a M.F.A. at Yale University's School of Drama. A one-act play not only served as her M.F.A. thesis but became the basis for show more her successful full-length work, Uncommon Women and Others (1977). Her other plays include Isn't It Romantic, The Sisters Rosensweig, and Old Money. The Heidi Chronicles (1989) received numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony, the New York Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for most outstanding play by a woman, and the Hull-Warriner Award for the best play dealing with a controversial subject. She also wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film The Object of My Affection, the children's book Pamela's First Musical, a spoof of self-help literature entitled Sloth, a novel entitled Elements of Style, and two collections of personal essays entitled Bachelor Girls and Shiksa Goddess. She died of lymphoma on January 30, 2006 at the age of 55. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: 2005 Jill Krementz
Works by Wendy Wasserstein
The Seven Deadly Sins Set: Consisting of Greed, Gluttony, Envy, Lust, Sloth, Anger, and Pride (2006) 12 copies
Uncommon Women and Others {video} 3 copies
The Heidi Chronicles 3 copies
Tender Offer 2 copies
Workout 1 copy
Uncommon Women and Chorus 1 copy
The Age of Innocence 1 copy
The Surgeon 1 copy
The Heide Chronicles 1 copy
Medea 1 copy
Associated Works
For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 452 copies
The Actor's Book of Contemporary Stage Monologues: More Than 150 Monologues from More Than 70 Playwrights (1987) — Contributor — 178 copies
Love's Fire: Seven New Plays Inspired By Seven Shakespearean Sonnets (1998) — Contributor — 69 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1950-10-18
- Date of death
- 2006-01-30
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Manhattan, New York, USA
- Education
- Mount Holyoke College
City College of New York
Yale University - Occupations
- playwright
professor
novelist
screenwriter - Relationships
- Wasserstein, Bruce (brother)
- Organizations
- Cornell University
- Short biography
- Wendy Wasserstein was the youngest of five siblings. The family moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan when she was 12. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1971, she studied creative writing at City College of New York and her first play, Any Woman Can't, was produced by Playwrights Horizons in 1973. Shortly after, she began to study playwriting at the Yale School of Drama, where she receiving a master's degree in 1976. Her first major success was Uncommon Women and Others, produced by the Phoenix Theater in 1977 and then filmed and broadcast on PBS. The New York Times wrote in her obituary, "Ms. Wasserstein's plays struck a profound chord with women struggling to reconcile a desire for romance and companionship, drummed into baby boomers by the seductive fantasies of Hollywood movies, with the need for intellectual independence and achievement separate from the personal sphere." She won a Pulitzer Prize for her most celebrated play, The Heidi Chronicles, which opened in 1989. She also wrote a children's book, a novel, and did some scriptwriting in Hollywood. She wrote an essay for The New Yorker about her late-life pregnancy and her daughter Lucy Jane's premature birth.
Members
Reviews
Well, I didn't like it. By the age of 3 most kids have watched dozens of Disney musicals, all better than the one described in this book which, while it might be meant as a send up of musical tropes, is a stupid send up of musical tropes. The explosions of orange pastels aren't to my taste either. The explanations of what people do is plodding. And Pamela deserves a better dress. And 3 year olds deserve a better introduction to the theater.
Wasserstein's feminist anthem to the difficulties of accomplished women. A group of women meet at a restaurant to review their Mt. Holyoke days and their present lives. When Mt. Holyoke (read: privileged) women have this much trouble, just imagine the troubles of those who didn't manage to attend a seven-sisters school!
An unusual work for the author, in that it has a linear plot that takes place over a single weekend. No epic works here. A family of sisters comes together for the birthday of the eldest, together with men that they are involved with. A lot of soul-searching, a bit of family squabbling, and a daughter that wants to run off to Lithuania for some not-quite developed cause create the tensions that keep the play moving. This is one of the first plays of Wasserstein's in which I didn't feel that she had some sort of beef about the women's movement allowing her to make choices she later regretted; as such, it was more enjoyable in its own right. The author explores family dynamics, but there is still the sense of women who have come from a much more third base starting point than most of us, so it still doesn't really tug emotionally the way some works do. Still, it is interesting and witty, though still somewhat cold and detached.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 28
- Also by
- 12
- Members
- 2,025
- Popularity
- #12,698
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 39
- ISBNs
- 61
- Languages
- 1
- Favorited
- 4
Follows Heidi in her quest to "have it all." At times it is insightful but I feel like ending the play with Heidi adopting a baby as the way to find happiness was...unfortunate.