SOURCE: Barnett, Claudia. Review of An American Daughter, by Wendy Wasserstein. Theatre Journal 49, no. 4 (December 1997): 520-21.

In the following review, Barnett appraises the cultural significance of An American Daughter, contrasting its feminist perspective with that of The Heidi Chronicles.

Wendy Wasserstein's earlier protagonists would consider Lyssa Dent Hughes [in An American Daughter] “pretty fucking amazing” and would say she “has it all.” Compared to Heidi Holland, Janie Blumberg, and even Sara Goode, she knows what she wants. Wife, mother, and doctor, she has been nominated as Surgeon General of the United States. Confident and assured, she talks about health issues on national television. But she follows the rules she has learned from her father, a senator, not realizing that a different code applies to women—that she must play not only political candidate, but also “American daughter,” a role in which competence must be matched by femininity. Her...