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Wendy Wasserstein Biography

(1950–2006)

Playwright. Born October 18, 1950 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1971 and receiving an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama in 1976, Wendy Wasserstein followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, Simon Schliefer, who was a prominent Polish Jewish playwright.

Her first production, Uncommon Women and Others, displayed her signature wry, comical style, and was subsequently produced for television by PBS. Other plays include The Sisters Rosensweig, An American Daughter and Third. Her 1989 play, The Heidi Chronicles, won a Tony Award for best play and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Though lauded for its comedic merits, Wasserstein's work explored a deeper issue: the complex politics of independent American women living in a society that values traditional roles and expectations.

Wasserstein gave birth to a daughter, Lucy Jane, in 1998. The playwright was hospitalized with leukemia in December 2005 and died on January 30, 2006 at the age of 55.