Wendy Wasserstein

Although Wasserstein calls herself a humanist, her works reflect a political rhetoric, if cloaked in humor, that she herself could not imagine to be anything but feminist. Shaped by literal, cultural, and materialistic feminist theory, Wasserstein illustrates the impact of the women's movement on the lives of her female characters. The five major works, with their near-sequel effect, let us see her characters' college years, mid-twenties, mid-thirties and middle age. Through the use of a newly devised critical context called fem-en(act)ment, or textual or performance drama that is guided by feminist disposition thematically and stylistically, the author here allows for a fresh reading of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.