Wendy Wasserstein

Wasserstein calls herself a humanist, but her works reflect a political rhetoric that she herself could not call anything but feminist. Through the use of a critical context of textual or performance drama guided by feminist disposition thematically and stylistically, the author offers a fresh reading of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

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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.