Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Christopher DurangITHACA, NY -- The Cornell Department of Theatre, Film & Dance is pleased to present a symposium "An Uncommon Woman" honoring the life and work of Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein the weekend of February 23-24. The symposium is being held in conjunction with the production of her first published work, Uncommon Women and Others, being performed at the Cornell Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts February 14 through 25. At the time of her death, Wasserstein was appointed for a six-year term as the President's Council of Cornell Women Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large. All events are free and open to the public and will be held at the Cornell Schwartz Center.

"Wendy's work is frighteningly insightful, daringly witty and utterly human. This is a powerful combination. As an artist Wendy was always accessible and beloved--I know she intended (in her tenure as AD White Professor-at-Large) to share her work and her vision with our students and our community," said Theatre Professor and symposium organizer Beth Milles. A prolific writer known for her self-deprecating humor, Wasserstein wrote the popular plays The Heidi Chronicles and The Sisters Rosensweig as well as the books Shiksa goddess: or, how I spent my forties and Bachelor Girls, among many others. She was the author of the screenplay The Object of My Affection, which starred Jennifer Aniston.

The "Uncommon Woman" symposium will open on February 23 at 4:30 pm with a reading of Wasserstein's most recent play Third. The reading will feature the talents of Cornell students and Equity actors, including Alma Cuervo, who appeared in the 1977 Off-Broadway production of Uncommon Women and Others with Glenn Close, Swoosie Kurtz, and Jill Eikenberry. She later appeared in the 1979 film of the same name with Meryl Streep.

The symposium continues on Saturday with an academic panel at 10 am featuring Jan Balakian, Assistant Professor of English at Kean University, who is currently writing a study of Wasserstein's plays, and Michael Cadden, Director of the Theatre and Dance Program at Princeton University, who is a noted contemporary political theatre scholar. At 11:45 am noted playwright Christopher Durang will speak about Wasserstein and her influences on his work. Christopher Durang and Wendy Wasserstein were students together in the M.F.A. program at the Yale School of Drama.

The two also worked together on Medea, a parody that appears in Durang's collection, Naomi in the Living Room & Other Short Plays, which was published in 1998. Some of his most notable works include Beyond Therapy, Baby with the Bathwater, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sex and Longing, and Betty's Summer Vacation. Also a performer, Durang has worked with Sigourney Weaver, Julie Andrews, and Jean Smart. Durang's talk will be followed by a 2 pm and 8 pm performance of Uncommon Women and Others. The 2 pm show will be followed by a Q&A with Durang and Cuervo.

On Sunday events conclude with a playwright's workshop at 11 am led by Jenny Lyn Bader. One of Wasserstein's "favorite young playwrights," Bader is a Lark Playwriting Fellow. Her work appears in Under Thirty: Plays for a New Generation and Leading Women: Plays for Actresses. The workshop is open to Cornell students.

This event is sponsored by the Department of Theatre, Film & Dance; Cornell Council on the Arts; University Lectures Committee; Burton Spiller New Play and Playwright's Program, A.D. White Professor-at-Large Program, Department of English; Cornell Rose Goldsen Lecture Series, The Society for the Humanities, LBG Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The symposium schedule is available online at www.theatrefilmdance.cornell.edu.

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