Wendy Wasserstein Summary

In 1989 Wendy Wasserstein became the first woman playwright to win a Tony; that same year she also collected the Pulitzer Prize and the award for best new play from New York Drama Critics Circle. Thes... Read more

Critical Essay by Elliott Sirkin [Isn't It Romantic presents] a series of hard-driving skits, most of which conclude with some kind of punch line or shock—a new dramatic shape that proba... Read more

Critical Essay by Edith Oliver Wendy Wasserstein's "Tender Offer" is about a father who is so late picking up his little daughter at dancing school that he misses her recital. At ... Read more

Critical Essay by Edith Oliver [Wendy Wasserstein] is among the funniest and most inventive writers around, but the first version of "Isn't It Romantic" seemed to me "as ou... Read more

In the following review, Black offers praise for Bachelor Girls. "I think one of the reasons I took up writing is my need to make order out of disorder … that and this problem I have of ... Read more

A distinguished American drama and film critic, Simon is the author of Uneasy Stages: A Chronicle of the New York Theatre, 1963–1973 (1976) and Singularities: Essays on the Theatre, 1964–... Read more

Highly regarded as a director, author, and longtime drama critic for The Nation, Clurman was an important contributor to the development of the modern American theater. In 1931, with Lee Strasberg and... Read more

In the following article, Gold profiles Wasserstein's life and career up to the production of Isn't It Romantic. One Wasserstein arranges mergers and acquisitions for First Boston. Anoth... Read more

In the following interview, originally conducted in August 1987, Wasserstein discusses the impetus behind her career, the inspirations for her comedy, the importance of humor in her dramas, and the ge... Read more

In the following review, Cooper evaluates Pamela's First Musical, observing that children's-book publishers often sacrifice literary quality for corporate profits. Anyone can write a chi... Read more

In the following essay, Whitfield investigates the thematic significance of Jewish identity in Wasserstein's major plays, comparing the verisimilitude of their autobiographical dimension with t... Read more

In the following review, Shengold comments on the humor of The Festival of Regrets—which was first performed as part of a production of three one-act operas titled Central Park—noting th... Read more

In the following review, Kirschner praises the humor and satire that informs the principal themes of Bachelor Girls. This collection of essays by Tony Award-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein [Bache... Read more