The Heidi Chronicles

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The Heidi Chronicles
Written by	Wendy Wasserstein
Characters	Heidi Holland Peter Patrone Scoop Rosenbaum

The Heidi Chronicles (1988) is an award-winning play by noted 20th century American playwright Wendy Wasserstein.

1 Plot summary
2 Production history
3 Awards
4 Film
5 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The plot follows Heidi Holland from high school in the 1960s to her career as a successful art historian over 20 years later. The play's main themes deal with the changing role of women during this time period, describing both Heidi's ardent feminism during the 1970s and her eventual sense of betrayal during the 1980s. Though most of the characters are women, there are two important male characters; Peter Patrone, a homosexual pediatrician who is arguably Heidi's best friend, and Scoop Rosenbaum, a magazine editor who marries and has many affairs, who Heidi has a tense friendship with. At the end of the play, Heidi adopts a baby.

[edit] Production history

The play opened off-Broadway in 1988, produced by Playwrights Horizons. It starred Joan Allen as Heidi, and featured a young Sarah Jessica Parker in three small roles. In March of 1989, the play moved to Broadway. The cast remained the same except that Parker was replaced by Cynthia Nixon. Both productions were directed by Daniel Sullivan.

The first major production mounted after Wasserstein's death in early 2006 was at the Berkshire Theatre Festival during the summer of 2006. The production was directed by Maria Mileaf and featured Kate Jennings Grant as Heidi, Scott Lowell as Scoop, Tom Story as Peter (Heidi's gay best friend) and newcomer Laura Heisler in three small roles (following in the footsteps of Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon).