Wasserstein, Wendy (1950–2006)

US playwright. Her sharply witty plays explore the role of intelligent, independent women in a society that still has traditional expectations about marriage and motherhood. She won both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize for her play The Heidi Chronicles (1988).

The Heidi Chronicles follows 20 years in the life of its heroine, from the 1960s to the 1980s, exploring her feminism, her sense of disillusionment, and her personal relationships during this time of transition for the role of women. It starred Joan Allen and was later filmed for television, starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Other plays include Isn't It Romantic (1983), The Sisters Rosensweig (1992), An American Daughter (1997), Old Money (2002), and Third (2005). Wasserstein also wrote the screenplay for the film The Object of My Affection (1998), a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston.

Wasserstein was born in Brooklyn, New York. After receiving a bachelor's degree in history from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, in 1971, she went on to take a master of arts degree in creative writing from the City College of New York and a master of fine arts degree from the Yale School of Drama, Connecticut, in 1976. Her first major play, Uncommon Women and Others, written while at Yale about her experiences at Mount Holyoke, was performed off-Broadway in 1977, starring Glenn Close, and was later filmed for television, starring Meryl Streep. She was a professor at Cornell University from 2005 until her death. Her novel Elements of Style was published in 2006.