News & Events

Wendy Wasserstein ’71

The Alumnae Association joins with the Mount Holyoke College community worldwide in expressing our deep sorrow over the loss of Wendy Wasserstein ’71, who died on January 30, 2006, in New York City. Wasserstein, a Tony-, Obie-, and Pulitzer-prize winning playwright and one of the College’s most prominent alumnae, was a dedicated supporter of Mount Holyoke who embodied the mission of the College in her work and life. Her plays, which include Uncommon Women and Others, The Heidi Chronicles, An American Daughter, and The Sisters Rosensweig, articulated a complex, witty vision of contemporary women and their efforts to negotiate the world of careers, relationships, family, and society. Wasserstein also wrote critically praised essays about her childhood and family, her career as a female playwright, and her daughter, Lucy Jane, born in 1999 when Wasserstein was forty-eight.

Vanessa James, chair of the theatre department at Mount Holyoke, remembers Wasserstein as “full of brilliant humor and infectious energy. Her incisive wit influenced many young playwrights and her wild imagination inspired all of us who knew and admired her work.”

In 1985, the Alumnae Association awarded Wasserstein with its highest honor, the Mary Lyon Award. W. Rochelle Calhoun, executive director of the Alumnae Association, said, “The Alumnae Association was pleased to recognize the work of one of the brightest and most original minds of her generation, and we mourn her untimely passing.”

Related Links

› Playwright Wendy Wasserstein ’71 Dies at Age 55 (MHC Web site)

› Mount Holyoke College memorial ad in the New York Times (MHC Web site)

› Wendy Wasserstein Dies at 55; Her Plays Spoke to a Generation (NY Times)

› February 2, 2001 Audio Interview with Wendy Wasserstein (Indiana Univ. Web site)