America lost one of its best playwrights, and a strong and sympathetic voice for women, with the Jan. 30 death of Wendy Wasserstein, 55. The engaging, warm, self-effacing Pulitzer Prize winner (for The Heidi Chronicles) died of leukemia. Among her other plays, many of them produced in Chicago, are Isn’t It Romantic?; Uncommon Women and Others; The Sisters Rosenzweig; and An American Daughter. Her two most successful works, The Heidi Chronicles and The Sisters Rosenzweig, both enjoyed Broadway runs among the longest for serious drama in the last 20 years.
Although never married or partnered, Wasserstein fulfilled a lifelong goal when she gave birth to a daughter at the age of 48 (!) in 1999, an experience she chronicled in her book of essays, Shiksa Goddess (or How I Spent My Forties). A champion of women’s perspective—versus women’s causes—Wasserstein never lost her keen sense of humor (both in person and in her writing) or her belief in romance. Something of a fag hag, her extensive circle of good friends included many of America’s most prominent gay authors, producers and directors. And, of course, Stage Door Jonny knew her, too.
Has anyone besides Jonny noticed the hint of a gay storyline on the long-running daytime soap, As the World Turns? It seems that boyish adolescent Luciano Grimaldi Snyder (known as Luke) is in emotional turmoil that’s driving him to drink, literally. His chosen drinking buddy is another attractive boy, to whom Luke does not seem able to say ‘no’ when invited to party. Luke is the son of As the World Turns uber-heroine Lily Walsh Snyder Grimaldi Santana Snyder, and the adopted son of handsome, hairy-chested hunk Holden Snyder. Lily knows something big is eating Luke, but she doesn’t know what. But maybe it’s Luke who’s eating something big, for Holden has seen Luke giving his buddy a backrub, and found Luke’s computer journal in which the boy declares that his parents would hate him if they knew the truth. Holden has urged Luke to open up, promising that nothing could turn them against him, but so far Luke is silent. Is Luke gay? Will he come out to Lily and Holden? Tune in tomorrow for As the World Turns.
By the way, Luke was just a boy two years ago and now he’s 17. But Jonny’s dear readers know that soap opera children are like dogs: they age seven years for one human year. Until they are old enough to have sex, and then they slow down to normal.
A pro-peace organization, Genesis at the Crossroads, is taking a page from the NAMES Quilt handbook. Heck, they’re just taking the whole book! The organization is presenting a March 2-April 1 festival to promote world peace, featuring the Chicago debut of the Middle East Peace Quilt, which will be displayed at the Columbia College Chicago Glass Curtain Gallery (1104 S. Wabash). The Middle East Peace Quilt was conceived by Vancouver artist Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, and consists (to date) of 30 panels, each nine square feet, depicting peaceful visions by over 300 artists of Israeli, Palestinian, European and North American descent.
The month-long Peace It Together Festival also will offer various performances and cultural arts programs the weekends of March 4-5 and 10-12, among them appearances by popular folksinger Ella Jenkins (in a program for children and families) and actor Stacy Keach (reciting Shakespeare and more). The eclectic festival also will offer quilting workshops, Yemenite drumming, a Hindu/Jewish/Muslim visual art/dance collaboration, an Ethiopian Hebrew choir and other attractions, all in conjunction with Columbia College Chicago. Genesis at the Crossroads is a six-year-old organization that uses the arts—performing, visual and culinary—to bridge cultures in conflict. For updated festival info, call (773) 929-0224 or see www.gatc.org.
Another worthy organization, the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans (MSHV) is joining with Steppenwolf Theatre Company for a one-night-only benefit. (There are some 18,000 homeless vets in the Chicago area alone.) The Feb. 20 evening features a dramatic reading of Place of Angels, the Vietnam memoir by Bob Adams, the veteran who founded the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans (MSHV). Tickets are $100-$200, all of which goes to the MSHV. The performance is at 7:30 p.m., followed by a reception; (773) 772-5272.
The benefit caught Jonny’s eye because it’s being co-coordinated by playwright Will Kern, author of the long-running hit (in Chicago and elsewhere) Hell Cab, about a very long night with a Chicago cabbie and his various passengers.