Third, the new Wendy Wasserstein play currently running at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, has added on an extra week to its limited engagement. The show, which opened on October 20th after beginning previews on September 29th, was to have closed on December 11th, but will now play through December 18th.
Starring Academy Award-winner Dianne Wiest, Jason Ritter, Charles Durning and Gaby Hoffman, the show, like many other Wasserstein plays, concerns themes of feminism and feminist identity.In Third, Wasserstein "presents a candid, uncompromising
portrait of a woman at a crossroads. College professor Laurie Jameson's
seemingly well-ordered life as wife, mother and daughter, as well as
educator, is thrown into disarray when she accuses a student of
plagiarism. What follows forces her to question the very values and
ideals
she has clung to for so much of her life," according to notes on the show's website. Third, which premiered in one-act form at Theatre J in Washington, D.C. in 2004, is directed by Daniel Sullivan. Third marks the fourth time that Sullivan has staged a Wasserstein play in New York; he previously did so for the Broadway productions of The Heidi Chronicles, The Sisters Rosenweig and An American Daughter.
Wasserstein won a Tony Award for Best Play for The Heidi Chronicles; the show also netted her a Pulitzer Prize. Her The Sisters Rosenweig was also nominated for a Best Play Tony. Other credits include Isn't It Romantic, Old Money, and Uncommon Women and Others. Pamela's First Musical, for which she penned the book, will premiere at the California company TheatreWorks in 2006.