The Graduate Application That Never Was

Once upon a time, I promised some supportive friends that whenever I heard from the graduate school I was applying to, only then would I let them read the script analysis that I had discussed *endlessly* with them before finishing. Since the program was dropped, and in the spirit of keeping this blog from lapsing again, I'll post it here for anyone who was curious what the outcome of all that work was.

Keep in mind, it's a bit of a dry read, as the academics of the assignment required a wedge a lot of information into a very short paper. I would welcome any critique of my analysis, both because I love debate, and because I never know what I might learn from other people's perspectives.

Many, many thanks to the crew who did a table read of the script, and for the lively discussion that followed!

Script Analysis of The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein

Starshine Stanfield

Choice

I was drawn to The Heidi Chronicles because of its compelling take on feminism and its complex character arc for the main protagonist, from a woman whose initial interest was in “images of women” (Wasserstein 180), to a woman who, as a professor, is concerned with the women who create the images. The playwright expertly combines both realism and caricatures to highlight the intricacies of that arc.  

Plot

The Heidi Chronicles is one woman’s journey through the evolving feminist movement, as she endeavors to create her own life, outside of the expectations of those who surround her. 

Metaphor

The Heidi Chronicles portrays a woman who wants to be the artist of her own life, while those around her are content to be the art.

Theatrical Style

The show can be presented with a combination of realism and surrealism in the staging, each scene staged initially as a still-life painting, using soft lighting effects and/or scrims to give it a painted effect. The audience’s first view of each scene would include actors frozen in place, as if part of the painting, symbolizing each scene as an element of the art Heidi is creating that is her life. The lighting would change to a sharper, more realistic hue as the scene begins. The backdrops and set pieces would have just a touch of surrealism to them, making them as much art as reality.

Time and Location

The play spans a period of approximately 20 years, starting in the mid-60’s when feminism was just beginning it’s “increasingly radical” second wave (Rampton), and ending in the late 80’s, on the cusp of what will become the third wave of feminism. The action bounces around the northeast, although mainly settles in New York City, which Wasserstein as the place “where you could come as a woman and have an independent life.” (PBS).

Analysis

We meet protagonist Heidi Holland in her prime, a woman with humor, insight, and passion who has found her foothold in a world not designed for women such as herself. The Heidi Chronicles follows Heidi through her formative years, which happen to coincide with the formative years of the second wave feminist movement. 

For Heidi, the path here has been less of a quest than a journey. Her individuality is shown less through action, and more through interaction with the menagerie of characters that surround her, including the three central characters in her life – Susan, Peter, and Scoop. This menagerie is flooded with feminist caricatures. Heidi chooses to be the artist of her life, while the women in her life, even the feminist ones, see themselves as the art, there to show the world something, rather than create something. Susan is the one central female character in Heidi’s universe, a woman who bounces from granola feminism to corporate feminism. As a caricature of this kind of pinball feminism, she points up Heidi’s own indifference to fitting into a role. This contrast highlights Heidi’s own resolution to find the balance between ideals and reality. It also points to how Heidi ended up feeling alone and abandoned by the feminist movement. It’s easy to read this portrayal as a disservice to feminism, but it serves the art of the play, just as an artist uses the surrounding pieces to draw focus to the main part of the painting. It’s the director’s challenge to present this dichotomy in a way that serves the purpose of the stereotypes.


The female characters remain background to Heidi’s understanding because she is not looking to them to comprehend the world she wants to live in. The women are supposed to be journeying with her, so she views their mistakes and stumbles through an exaggerated lens. She is looking to the men to understand her path - she doesn’t want to be like them, she wants to understand the world the way they do:  “What is it mother’s teach their sons that they never bother to tell their daughters?” (Wasserstein 171)

The two other central characters in her life, Scoop and Peter, are presented with more complexity and authenticity. Scoop admires her, and challenges her from the time they meet to be even stronger and more sure of herself, he just acknowledges that she can’t serve his needs. He tells her she will ultimately be unhappy and disappointed – not because her cause is a waste of time, but because “The ones who open doors usually are.” (Wasserstein 202). Heidi’s falling for him is not a sign of her being subjugated by his manliness, but an acknowledgment that Scoop is the sort of man she wants to be equal to. 

Interestingly, Peter, who on the surface takes the role of supportive best friend, is not as supportive as he seems. He arrives to make fun of her protest, and diminishes the contributions women had already made up to that point by asking “Are you going to stand here until more women buy paints and finish a few masterpieces?” (Wasserstein 186), illustrating the point that throughout history, women artists have been ignored.  During the television interview, he has no compunction about talking over her and cutting her off. He betrays his own prejudices by still considering his opinions more important than hers.  Because Heidi doesn’t look to others to advocate for her, she is angry, but not let down by him. In the end, it is Peter who prevents her from moving on with her life by insisting that she stay, because he needs her. 

By the end of the play, Heidi has not only found some measure of equality in achieving her dreams, she has dared to do something that was not only groundbreaking for women in that time, but was something that men had not yet even contemplated attempting for themselves – creating a family on her own, without depending on someone else to create one with her. It is the final brushstroke in creating the unique art that is her life. Heidi’s love of art leads her to live her life with the understanding that subtle expressions sometimes have more of an impact than loud statements. 

Collaboration Pictures

Annotated Bibilography

Barko, Cortney Cronberg. "Rediscovering Female Voice and Authority: The Revival of Female Artists in Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles." Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 29.1 (2008): 121-138. Print.

               The author, a doctoral candidate in English at Northern Illinois University, reviews the art in Wendy Wasserstein’s play The Heidi Chronicles, and their impact on the narrative of the play

PBS, . "Interviews - Wendy Wasserstein." n. page. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/interview/wasserstein.html>.

               A brief piece in which Wendy Wasserstein answers a few questions posed by an unidentified interviewer.

Rampton, Martha. "The Three Waves of Feminism." 41.2 (2008): n. page. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.\

               The author, a history professor at Pacific University Oregon, briefly details the three phases, or “waves” of feminism and how they differ from each other. 

Wasserstein, Heidi. The Heidi Chronicles, Uncommon Women and Others, & Isn't It Romantic. 1st Ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1991. 155-249. Print.

               A collection of three plays by Wendy Wasserstein, including the play discussed in this analysis, The Heidi Chronicles.