Wendy Wasserstein, 1950-2006: Her plays captured feminist era

Wendy Wasserstein, a playwright with strong Seattle ties who depicted the challenges of modern women in "The Heidi Chronicles" and other works, died Monday in New York. She was 55.

A lifelong New Yorker, widely produced dramatist, and a committed arts activist beloved by colleagues for her agile wit and ready warmth, Ms. Wasserstein had been battling cancer in recent months. She died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of lymphoma.

Ms. Wasserstein's best-known plays, "The Heidi Chronicles" (a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner), "The Sisters Rosensweig" (a Tony nominee) and "An American Daughter" all played on Broadway and around the U.S.

And all three were developed in the 1980s and '90s at Seattle Repertory Theatre, under the direction of the Rep's then-artistic head Daniel Sullivan.

In fact, Ms. Wasserstein's success helped establish Seattle's status as a major theater center. Says Rep managing director Benjamin Moore, the company's pivotal role in Ms. Wasserstein's career "certainly raised our profile nationally and did the same thing for Dan as a director. And Wendy really loved the Seattle audience. The city was a haven for her."

A feminist viewpoint

Starting with her early hit "Uncommon Women and Others" (about the aspirations of female classmates at Mount Holyoke College, her alma mater), Ms. Wasserstein wrote from a feminist perspective laced with wry humor. She was also timely in portraying modern women's struggles to balance professional ambition with romance and parenthood.

In a sense, Ms. Wasserstein made Broadway safe for feminism, in a wave of women dramatists (Beth Henley, Marsha Norman, Tina Howe) who cracked the male-dominated repertoire of Broadway and regional theater in the 1980s.

Ms. Wasserstein's penchant for writing appealing romantic comedies made her work more commercially viable than that of most of her peers. And while clearly expressing a belief in equal rights, she was just as focused on depicting a post-feminist ambivalence many women in her audiences shared.

In her 1989 breakthrough hit, "The Heidi Chronicles," Ms. Wasserstein telescoped 20 years in the life of an unmarried feminist art scholar, who feels unfulfilled until she adopts a baby. (Ms. Wasserstein became a single mother in 1999, when she gave birth to her sole child, Lucy Jane.)

"The Sisters Rosensweig" (1993) portrays the divergent paths of three upper-class Jewish-American sisters — a banker, an aging hippie and a suburban wife and radio host.

And in 1997's "An American Daughter," Ms. Wasserstein turned a physician's troubled nomination for a high federal post into a debate over how far women have really progressed.

In her play "Third," which ended a New York run in December, an academic's liberal, feminist beliefs are tested by a male student from a privileged, conservative background.

Stagings at the Rep

Ms. Wasserstein's close connection to Seattle was rooted in an enduring creative alliance with Sullivan, who staged public readings of her scripts at the Rep with such A-list actors as Meryl Streep, Mary Tyler Moore and Julianne Moore.

After much polishing, these plays went on to earn kudos for director Sullivan and their author on Broadway. They also returned to the Rep, in full stagings nearly identical to their Broadway debuts.

Ms. Wasserstein's fondness for Seattle was no secret. In numerous interviews with The Seattle Times, the convivial writer extolled the city's beauty and praised the intelligence of local audiences.

"I think I came of age [at the Rep]," she mused, in a 1997 interview. In 2001, Ms. Wasserstein commented, "Right after I step off the airplane [in Seattle], I have the feeling that this is a great place to do plays."

In turn, she helped raise arts funds for Seattle. In 1997 she emceed a gala marking Sullivan's retirement from the Rep, and personally urged the Kreielsheimer Foundation to make a $1 million gift to the company in Sullivan's honor.

"Wendy was always so extremely generous with her time," Moore noted. "She clearly recognized what this theater had done to advance her work, and she felt a real commitment and indebtedness to it. She was part of the family."

The youngest of four children, the Brooklyn-born Ms. Wasserstein also studied at Yale Drama School. Other writing credits include the film "The Object of My Affection"; TV movies of her plays; a children's book, "Pamela's First Musical"; essay collections and an upcoming novel, "Elements of Style."

Ms. Wasserstein is survived by her daughter, Lucy Jane; her mother, Lola; a sister, Georgette Levis; and a brother, Bruce Wasserstein. Funeral services will be private, with a memorial service to be held later at Lincoln Center.

Donations can be made in Ms. Wasserstein's name to the Open Doors Program, Theatre Development Fund, 1501 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com