Wendy Wasserstien

I think it was 1990-91 when I saw a production of Wendy Wasserstien's Heidi Chronicles. It was a great production of a great play. In the 1989 Pulitzer Prize winner Wendy Wasserman chronicled the life of Heidi Holland, an art historian. Through a series of art lectures episodes of her life are recounted, beginning at her high school senior prom in the 60's and followed her experiences until the late '80's. While the play explores feminism and it's changing nature, it's really about Heidi's struggle for self-identification. We see a person looking back at the choices one makes in life, some going with the grain, others going against. We see a person whose life seems fulfilled but is still unhappy and other times someone that seems happy but still recognizes something is missing.

Critics of the play label it a feminist work. Feminist critics label it an anti-feminist piece. That's perfect, because it's these contridictions, some imposed on us, some we impose on ourselves that Wendy Wasserstein was teaching us about.

Occasionally something will happen outside of the normal routine that triggers memories of not only how I got here, but why. After watching The Heidi Chronicles was one of those moments, and this weekend learning that Wendy Wasserstien passed away was another.