Congressman Jerrold Nadler has introduced a bill to honor the late Wendy Wasserstein.  The Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, whose plays include The Heidi Chronicles and The Sisters Rosensweig, died of lymphoma on January 20 in New York. She was 55 years old.

"This January, the theater world lost a legend," Congressman Nadler said. "Wendy Wasserstein’s contributions to American culture are incalculable.  Her plays brought the best of America – and to audiences around the world.  A resolution expressing the condolences of the House is the least we can do to honor her."

Ms. Wasserstein was born in Brooklyn and raised in Manhattan, and was passionate about the theater from an early age.  Her many plays focused on the struggles and conflicts that women face in American culture.  The Heidi Chronicles, an examination of the women’s movement over 20 years, won Wasserstein a Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989.  The Sisters Rosensweig was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play in 1993.  Wasserstein also published numerous children’s books, collections of personal essays, and wrote the screenplay for the movie "The Object of My Affection."

"Wendy Wasserstein was, herself, as popular as her work," Nadler said. "She was known throughout New York City as warm, generous, and caring.  She had friends and fans from across the political spectrum.  On January 31, Broadway’s theaters dimmed their lights in her honor; the House should pay her tribute, as well."

Fourteen members of Congress have cosponsored Nadler’s resolution, H.Res. 719: Representatives Gary Ackerman, Shelley Berkley, Sherrod Brown, Joseph Crowley, Eliot Engel, Raúl Grijalva, Brian Higgins, Maurice Hinchey, Rush Holt, Nita Lowey, Carolyn Maloney, Carolyn McCarthy, James McGovern, and Christopher Shays.