Wendy Wasserstein was a very influential playwright and person in general. She was a pioneer of feminism within the theater and non-aggressive feminism outside of it. His female characters are different from those seen in the theater before and have a life that Wasserstein instills in them through their dialogue, their descriptions, their actions and their lives. It presents characters facing serious problems and makes them respond in undeniably human ways and captivate the audience. This realistic female archetype is especially visible in Wasserstein's An American Daughter. Lyssa, a "...forty-two year old in a cotton shirt and jeans..." (Wasserstein 7) is a sharp, career-focused woman. He is working to become a general surgeon and will face many challenges to get there. Not only is he smart and capable, but he faces remorse, bitterness, and a lack of filter; flaws that make her life leap from the pages of Wasserstein's screenplay. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay An important stereotype-breaking is also found in the character description. Lyssa is a career woman, but she doesn't show up in a pantsuit and tie, nor does she wear heels and pearls every day. She is a woman. Wear jeans and a t-shirt and deal with family problems just like real women do. By starting, at the most basic level, with the fight against minimal and unrealistic standards, it sets the precedent of honesty above all else. An American Daughter by Wendy Wasserstein is a great example of Wasserstein's presentation of women: intelligent, strong, capable, and well-rounded. Lyssa, as well as her friend Judith and acquaintance Quincy, are presented not as the standard quiet and reserved housewife of the theater, but as an independent woman seeking professional success. He works very hard and obviously has a sharp mind and quick wit. What sets Lyssa apart from other female characters like her is not her brash image, but rather the subtext and underlying character traits. In many other stories, there is a strong, witty female character who "goes against the grain," but Wasserstein's protagonist (unlike many others of the same ilk) lacks the softer, more seductive need for a man. This is the most significant difference. between Lyssa and the other female protagonists. Jane Austen's Lizzy in Pride and Prejudice also has wit and strength, but she is reduced to a woman longing for a love interest. Lyssa doesn't. She has love, she has a husband and children, but this is not her ultimate goal. He loves his family and his job. She works hard to make her way in the world, and she does so without leaning on her father, the senator, and without using femininity, meekness, or sexual attraction. It doesn't boil down to the sum of her feminine charms and a tube of lipstick, and that's the genius of Wasserstein. Lyssa is not only a role model for girls seeking careers, but she is also a role model for authors and playwrights. She's more than a "capable woman" archetype, she seems to be a living, breathing person, someone who could step out of her home in Georgetown and into the lives of all readers. This is Wasserstein's greatest influence on the world of theater. She pioneered real, plausible female characters in theater and opened doors for equality and feminism inside and outside of theater. Even when Lyssa catches her husband Walter kissing another woman, it doesn't blend with the scene we know all too well: the woman walks out of the room with a strong face, finds a place to be alone, sobs, finds her resolve again and huntingout the man saying something like “I have too much potential to waste time on you.” Instead, Lyssa leaves. She harbors a deep resentment towards her husband, which becomes evident in subsequent interactions, but she does not dust herself off and move on with her life. This is why Wasserstein's characters are so important: they are beautiful, humanly, imperfect. Lyssa handles her husband's infidelity in an unhealthy way and that's important. This is one of the first examples of a character that women in the audience can look at and say, “Oh, that's me. I do it too." Much of the validity of Wasserstein's characters comes from their start in reality. Once again, the truth of his characters comes from the truth of his life. She said what she felt needed to be heard, whether people would like it or hate it (and most of the time they hated it, or at least some did). He never presented his ideas as all-encompassing or perfect, instead he celebrated the flaws in everything he commented on: life, women, parents, children, feminism and society; he commented on them honestly, rather than trying to overlook the problems. Wasserstein has dedicated much of her adult life to promoting a better presence of women in the media, whether through her plays or her presentation of herself, her affection has been widely experienced. Wasserstein poured (at least) a little of himself into each of his characters, and that's what changed the history of American theater. the life of Wasserstein; his difficult childhood; the secrecy in his home; and the intense rivalry between her and her brother ensnared her audience with the fact that, finally, they were watching real women live real lives. One of the major influences on Wasserstein's writing and, indeed, his life, was his mother Lola. Schleifer. Lola was an eccentric woman to say the least. She ran her home and cared for her children, and all the while centered her life around her passion: dance. She taught Wendy many important lessons about life, but she was also a source of serious conflict within the Wasserstein household. Lola demanded perfection from her children and would accept nothing less. This led her to send her mentally disabled son Abner to a mental health facility and cut off all contact. The family never visited him and soon stopped acknowledging his existence. He didn't fit into Lola's perfect suburban family, so he wasn't included. This was the kind of behavior that put enormous pressure on Wendy as she was growing up. Wendy was constantly compared to her brother Bruce, a wealthy investment banker. Wendy's results, while impressive, were comparable to her brother's victories and always seemed disappointing. This search for validity was present throughout Wasserstein's life, and so entered into his writing. It is present specifically in Lyssa. Lyssa seeks her own career and advancement opportunities and is constantly compared to her father, which is endlessly frustrating for her. This is a clear connection to Wasserstein's life, and one of the many reasons why Lyssa seems to jump off the page. Wasserstein also manages to capture a very real vulnerability in his characters. This probably stems from his mother's influence. Her mother was especially harsh on Wendy as she was growing up and figuring out what she wanted to do as an adult. Her mother even said at one point, “'Wendy, you make me want to blechhh'” (Salmon 62). Wendy wanted to gain her mother's favor and approval, but she had no direction to give her life, and so it was a disappointment to Lola. This kind of apathy manifests itself in the powerful vulnerability of his characters and provides someinformation about the basis of their conflict. Aside from her written works, Wendy Wasserstein was a powerful public figure and an invaluable voice for women in society. One of the most significant aspects of her public persona was the fact that she refused to be the aggressive, hot-tempered feminist stereotype. Instead, she lived her life in a way that did not allow for misogyny towards herself or her career. In doing so, he led a quiet and well-adapted opposition to the predominantly male Broadway of the time. The fact that she managed to accomplish so much had everything to do with her public persona. Wasserstein is believed to have had one of the first intimate public personas, at a time before Facebook statuses opened a window into people's lives. Wasserstein published a series of newspaper columns that presented an edited version of his life to the public eye. He wrote casually, as if he were talking to friends, but still kept the more personal and messy parts of his life just that: personal. This is not to say that Wasserstein avoided discussing more personal topics in his works. In reality, it was exactly the opposite. He wrote frank discussions about love, intimacy, sex and infidelity into his plays. Once again, though, it had a distinguishing factor: none of these were used for free. His female characters didn't sit around gossiping about boys because what else do women do?. Wives had sex with their husbands not because it was a marital duty, but because they wanted it. Once again, Wasserstein presented real life, and part of it was real discussions and real relationships. An interesting dynamic is created in An American Daughter when Lyssa brings up the idea that she wouldn't have lost her nomination if she hadn't been a woman. If a man had done exactly the same things (skipped jury duty, made an offhand joke about housewives), it would have been dismissed as a mistake, but because she was a woman, there was a shift in the power dynamic, and so the the public jumped at the chance to have a reason to despise her. This moment is almost certainly a commentary on our society. Wasserstein uses the reaction to Lyssa as a method of commenting on the ever-present distinction between reactions to men's and women's failures. This is amplified by the fact that Lyssa is running for a position of power that had a long male tradition and is taking the place of a man. Wasserstein draws attention to the fact that men have as many flaws as women, yet only when women are in roles of power are these flaws highlighted. This is another area of ​​feminism where Wasserstein has for many years led the charge: true equality. She didn't fight for women to be seen as better than men, she didn't want to put men down, she simply persisted quietly and reasonably towards her goal of equality. She was a spokesperson for women across America and gave a voice to women who wanted to see themselves accurately represented without forcing an important debate. All this innovation in the world of feminism in the theater has not come without debate. Because Wasserstein wasn't afraid to push the envelope when it came to serious topics, his work tended to irritate almost as many people as it encouraged. Wasserstein herself commented on the fact that her works were breaking through a social barrier and, in doing so, causing some conflict. She mentioned the idea that she was the only woman writing plays for women about women, and therefore they were expected to be all-encompassing, providing representation to all women everywhere. Naturally,realistically, this is impossible to achieve. Plays offer much more representation for real women, but they cannot include characters that everyone identifies with, and so some people will feel that there is still an inaccurate and unrealistic representation. This disagreement with Wasserstein's works is particularly present in her smash hit The Heidi Chronicles. This is a work that manages to portray (and sometimes outright state) feminist views, but does so in such a way that seems to undermine the very point it seeks to make. The characters in this play may present feminism, but they do not do so without criticism. Wasserstein stressed that feminism is by no means flawless, but that, just like the women it is trying to promote, it is worth it despite the flaws. (Barnett 14 - 15). It is important to note that Wasserstein's legacy is not only in his feminism, but in his realism as a whole. Wasserstein had a way of writing characters and situations that made his audience believe the character could live right alongside them. His characters had real conversations with each other, and instead of trying to force the subtext, Wasserstein seemed to simply allow the subtext to happen as it would. The characters faced their adversities and responded in the way people would, rather than in grotesque caricatures. This is one of the qualities that created his realistic characters. One difficulty Wasserstein faced as a result of her subtextual messages was being taken seriously. Because much of his agenda was hidden under layers of other meanings, many people saw his work as simple comedy, a look at silly interactions. This perception deeply frustrated her. Wasserstein fought to have his work recognized for what it was: a severe revision of social norms. He is reported to have said in response to his work being seen as lighthearted, "'...No, you don't understand, this is a political act'" (Wasserstein quoted in Dolan 444). Much of this aversion to being underestimated was once again attributed to her dedication to honesty. Her characters were created to comment on issues that she felt needed to be discussed, and then by allowing those conversations to go on uncommunicated, she was being dishonest with them. By demanding that his work be understood in all its subtexts and hidden meanings, he was once again asserting his position of truth and honesty and his position as a spokesperson for these ideas. On the part of many people, this demand that his works be entirely understood would have seemed haughty and perhaps even offensive, but Wasserstein's calm demeanor and unpretentious lifestyle kept this feeling at bay. He lived the ideas he wrote about in a very genuine way. Because she lived her ideals, she earned the respect she demanded. His honesty lived in his characters, their dialogue, their interactions, and their backstories; as well as his speech, life, family and work. Another major influence in Wasserstein's life was his daughter, Lucy Jane. Wendy had Lucy at the age of 48, and due to the late pregnancy, she faced serious health problems. Wasserstein was ill almost constantly throughout the pregnancy, and Lucy was born three months premature. She struggled for a while, but eventually survived and became a light in Wasserstein's life. The pregnancy, however, left Wasserstein ill, and she suffered from illnesses due to birth complications until her death in 2005. The pregnancy (and father) were.