Wendy Wasserstein

Michael Taub (SUNY, Purchase College)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 18 Oct 1950
Died 30 Jan 2006
Activity 1970-2006

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Cultural Identities

Jewish American

Activities

Primary

Film/TV Script-writer/ Screenwriter
Playwright / Dramatist

Resources

Wasserstein's Works

Save to Bookshelf

In the past two decades Wendy Wasserstein has emerged as one of America’s leading playwrights. Her many awards include a Pulitzer and a Tony. Wasserstein was born in 1950, in Brooklyn, New York, a place where first and second generation Jewish emigrants worked very hard at achieving the “American dream ” and where men went to work in the morning and women took care of the home and children. In many ways her parents lived a conventional life but her father, although he did go to work every day, was far from average: by inventing a new fabric he became a successful textile manufacturer. While her mother did stay home with four children, she preferred eating out to cooking, flashy clothes to the apron, dancing and the arts to sitting around and gossiping with neighbors. No doubt, the…

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2693 words

Citation: Taub, Michael. "Wendy Wasserstein". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 May 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4620, accessed 26 November 2024.]