Word: humors
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...easy emotion for playwright Wendy Wasserstein. Her natural instinct is to charm, to disarm, to retreat from harm. The nervous giggles, the wispy, high-pitched voice, the ingratiating brown eyes and perhaps even the plump figure all seem protective camouflage. For Wasserstein, self-mocking humor has always been the first line of defense against both the judgment of others and her enveloping Jewish family, which cannot understand why a nice girl like Wendy is not married with children at 38. Even her closest friends sometimes find her hard to take entirely seriously. "With that stupid little voice and ratty...
...Wasserstein is far too deft a satirist, and far too gentle a person, to compose a screed. Instead, with subtlety and humor in The Heidi Chronicles, she has written a memorable elegy for her own lost generation. Heidi tells the story of a slightly introverted art historian, a fellow traveler in the women's movement, who clings to her values long after her more committed friends switch allegiance from communes to consuming. At the pivotal moment in the play's second act, Heidi (played by Joan Allen) stands behind a lectern on a bare stage, giving a luncheon speech...
Even so, Wasserstein's natural medium remains humor. As she explained in a painfully honest essay called "Funny Girl" in New York Woman magazine, "I don't think about being funny very much because it's how I get by. For me it's always been a way to be likable but removed." The result is that outsiders can misinterpret her manner and mistakenly belittle her talent. Playwright Terrence McNally complains that "what people often miss about Wendy is the thoughtful, passionate, mature womanly side of her. She is far more interesting as a mature artist than as this giggling...
Fish has always been popular and respected by his players and opposing teams. He has a perfect image. He doesn't drink, smoke or hit a lousy backhand. He has an excellent sense of humor...
Fish won't be missed by opposing coaches, but the squash world is losing one of its greatest minds. And reporters will miss his sense of humor, his candor and his accessibility...