In Appreciation of Wendy Wasserstein: Tributes from Her Dearest Friends and Colleagues
Wendy Wasserstein; photo: Gino Domenico, Associated Press
A Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning dramatist, Wendy Wasserstein was one
of the best-known playwrights of her generation. She was also one of the first
playwrights to render the women of that generation on stage as fully realized
characters with a unique blend of wry humor, compassion, and seriousness. When
Wasserstein died from complications of lymphoma on January 30, 2006, the American
theatre mourned one of its most talented and fiercest advocates. Below are a few
of the many remembrances of Wasserstein published after her death, from those
who knew her best.
"As an artist, Wendy's trailblazing candor, her compassionate intelligence,
and her indefatigable wit inspired and stimulated our entire community. As a citizen,
Wendy epitomized an ideal of liberal values: generous, open-minded, caring, loyal,
she proved a tireless, articulate, charismatic champion for artists, women, educators,
children, and many, many others. But it was as a friend, daughter, sister, and
mother that the gift of Wendy's warmth and light burned brightest."
— The board and staff of Playwrights Horizons, Wasserstein's long-time
artistic home
"Along with their own grief, what those who knew and loved Wendy Wasserstein
close up couldn't get over was how so many strangers knew and loved her
from afar. There was no big-time playwright, perhaps no celebrity, more approachable
than Wendy. She was incapable of turning away from the fan who stopped her on
the street. She would show up for any obligatory cause, cultural event, or party,
if only someone asked. She was everybody's Wendy."
— Frank Rich, The New York Times
"Wendy had what every writer dreams. She could write humor and she could
write hard truth with equal impact. She could make you laugh and she could make
you cry. And she had this rare gift of giving insight and expression to what you
felt deep inside. She spoke for a generation and she was loved by several generations."
— Charlie Rose, Broadcaster and Journalist
"I don't think Wendy ever really worried if she would matter. She
knew that she did. She knew that people listened to her, and she used that advantage
to help young writers and to get young audiences in the theatre. She made women
of all ages and incomes feel that accomplishing things was not only possible,
it was going to be fun — and whatever it cost, it was going to be worth
it."
— Marsha Norman, Playwright
"When I think of Wendy Wasserstein, I hear her giggling. Wendy's
giggle was both a mask and a revelation: It was an insecure plump girl's
defense against a coldhearted world that mistakes anorexic for beautiful, and
a smart, observant child's satirical comment on the absurdities of that
world. The product of a high-pressure family that urged its children toward success,
and got its wish, she learned early on that she could succeed by turning her insecurities
and embarrassments into comedy. She became a social commentator, an essayist,
a spokesperson, and an éminence grise. Yet, behind this imposing figure
there always stood the shy, dateless Seven Sisters coed of her first successful
play, Uncommon Women and Others, the nervous novice playwright who, when a friend
introduced her to the novelist Joseph Heller as a brilliantly funny writer, responded
to his request, 'Say something funny, Wendy,' by barfing on his coat."
— Michael Feingold, The Village Voice
Deborah Offner, Maureen Anderman, and Mimi Lieberman in the Huntington's 2005 production of Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig; photo: T. Charles Erickson