WENDY WASSERSTEIN
Name: Wendy Wasserstein
Born: October 18, 1950 Brooklyn, New York
Died: January 30, 2006 New York, New York
Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 - January 30, 2006) was an award-winning
American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell
University. She was the recipient of the Tony Award for Best Play and the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Wasserstein was born in Brooklyn, New York to Morris Wasserstein, a wealthy
textile executive, and his wife, Lola Schleifer, an amateur dancer who moved to
the United States from Poland when her father was accused of being a spy. Lola
Wasserstein reportedly inspired some of her daughter's characters. Wendy was one
of five siblings, including brother Bruce Wasserstein. Her maternal grandfather
was Simon Schleifer, a prominent Polish Jewish playwright who moved to Paterson,
New Jersey and became a Hebrew school principal.
Wasserstein's first production of note was Uncommon Women and Others (her
graduate thesis at Yale), a play which reflected her experiences as a student at,
and an alumna of, Mount Holyoke College. A full version of the play was produced
in 1977 off-Broadway with Glenn Close, Jill Eikenberry, and Swoosie Kurtz
playing the lead roles. The play was subsequently produced for PBS with Meryl
Streep replacing Close.
In 1989, she won both the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize for her play The Heidi
Chronicles.
Her plays, which explore topics ranging from feminism to family to ethnicity to
pop culture, include The Sisters Rosensweig, Isn’t It Romantic, An American
Daughter, Old Money, and her most recent work which opened in 2005, Third .
In addition, she wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film The Object of My
Affection, which starred Jennifer Aniston. Wendy Wasserstein earned a New York
Drama Critics Circle Prize, the Drama Desk Award, and the Outer Critics Circle
Award.
Name: Wendy Wasserstein
Born: October 18, 1950 Brooklyn, New York
Died: January 30, 2006 New York, New York
Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 - January 30, 2006) was an award-winning
American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell
University. She was the recipient of the Tony Award for Best Play and the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Wasserstein was born in Brooklyn, New York to Morris Wasserstein, a wealthy
textile executive, and his wife, Lola Schleifer, an amateur dancer who moved to
the United States from Poland when her father was accused of being a spy. Lola
Wasserstein reportedly inspired some of her daughter's characters. Wendy was one
of five siblings, including brother Bruce Wasserstein. Her maternal grandfather
was Simon Schleifer, a prominent Polish Jewish playwright who moved to Paterson,
New Jersey and became a Hebrew school principal.
Wasserstein's first production of note was Uncommon Women and Others (her
graduate thesis at Yale), a play which reflected her experiences as a student at,
and an alumna of, Mount Holyoke College. A full version of the play was produced
in 1977 off-Broadway with Glenn Close, Jill Eikenberry, and Swoosie Kurtz
playing the lead roles. The play was subsequently produced for PBS with Meryl
Streep replacing Close.
In 1989, she won both the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize for her play The Heidi
Chronicles.
Her plays, which explore topics ranging from feminism to family to ethnicity to
pop culture, include The Sisters Rosensweig, Isn’t It Romantic, An American
Daughter, Old Money, and her most recent work which opened in 2005, Third .
In addition, she wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film The Object of My
Affection, which starred Jennifer Aniston. Wendy Wasserstein earned a New York
Drama Critics Circle Prize, the Drama Desk Award, and the Outer Critics Circle
Award.