I really like the vignette style play... I didn't want to murder myself while reading this and I actually liked the historical stuff!!!!

Sometimes I think that the feminist movement hurt more than it helped; this play is one of those times.

That said, it's well-written to that end. The three-dimensional characters certainly grab the attention and pull the story along. Still . . . depressing.

Why did I never read this before?! Loved it.

This play has some great role for female actors! The play has an episodic structure that showcases Heidi's evolution over different time periods in history. Wasserstein offers many different nuanced perspectives to feminism and the woman's role in modern society and does so not in a self-righteous way. I felt that Heidi's relationships to Peter and Scoop were written very authentically, both men representing different ideals. I learned a lot about conscienceness raising groups and the way women helped each other realize their full potential.

too true to be funny... this broke my heart

A play with plenty to say about feminism, men, opportunities, choices and the extra pressures on one gender over another, simply because of gender. The play avoids being preachy, more or less, by being smart and often very funny. These are intelligent people but humanly fallible too.

The first half of this was the epitome of white feminism, and the second felt only slightly better. There were moments where Heidi actually feels real, but they are few and far between. Perhaps the best is the speech Heidi delivers in Act II. It is universal- at least in some way, the rest, is not.

Even decades later, the play reads well and the dialogue crackles. It doesn't seem to have dated.

For 215 LitLadies -

personally i loved this interpersonal look into the second wave (white) feminist movement. so much nuance to the experience and so many dynamics at play that were presented really beautifully. really strong characters. loved it!

Winner of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award. Baby boomer’s long road from 60s confusion to 90s self-assured woman.

This was the second play I’ve read this month. I was a teen in the 80s, so I have heard about this play and Wendy Wasserstein since the play came out, but I never saw the play or really knew anything more than that it was an overview of one woman’s life and that it had a feminist message. I found the play much more confusing than I expected. There was a lot of weird banter, and I think the political references are getting so out of date they are hard to relate to, but the feeling of being a baby boomer white woman coming of age in the latter part of the 20th century and realizing that you were sold a bill of goods is still relatable. Heidi is a particular kind of person—from a privileged background, idealistic, independent. I kept picturing Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. I would’ve loved to discuss this play in a class or with a book group because so much could be said about it. I’m glad I read it. I hope I get to see it performed sometime but someone should try to do a new version. The baby boomers are fading now. I mean I’m gen-X and even *I* am getting old so where is the feminist play of this new generation? If someone knows a new playwright who has written something similar that I should read, please leave a comment. I am just scratching the surface of dramatic reading, and came to it haphazardly so I could use some direction. I mean it’s not like the questions have changed all that much for women—I’d love to be able to compare. Anyway, this play made me think a whole lot about stuff other than the play itself and that is a weird reading experience.