"But, Honey, if I sit, who’s going to dance?" -Tasha, "Isn't It Romantic?"

I'm having a bit of an issue at the moment in pulling together my piece of humor writing for tomorrow/today's senior sem class. I've made much ado about my love of David Ives recently (monkeys!), but I also hold a deep affinity for the my second favorite playwright, Wendy Wasserstein, who died early Monday.

I, Midwestern theatre major shiksa, am certainly not the one to eulogize her importance to the world at large. I didn't hear about her until sophomore year when I played a nine year old ballerina in her one-act, "Tender Offer," which remains my favorite stage role ever. It's the variety of her work that remains impressive. Her full-length plays, though filled with such varying personalities from myself, are some of the few where I end up identifying with the characters. Her "girls," as she called them, are trying to find the balance between self-sufficient independence and life-lasting romance that often doesn't work out, just like real life...though they have their sense of humor to support the difference. Sometimes I feel like I know the feeling all too well.

Her lasting influences upon this girl: my extended knowledge of Swoosie Kurtz, the tutu in the closet, comprehension of the word "shiksa," appreciation for my fellow responsible but flawed girls everywhere.