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Chris Ghaffari

An American Daughter

August 12, 2026

In "An American Daughter," Wendy Wasserstein approaches a topic still relevant: how American women in public life are expected to be perfect in all things while the men are given a pass for similar behavior. Notice that 29 years after this play appeared on Broadway, the United States has still not had a woman president. Unfortunately, the play is too schematic to be convincing and without enough humor to carry the story to its logical ending. While this production does not make a strong case for this as one of Wasserstein’s better plays, it is still possible that a future staging with a different cast might solve the current problems in this one. [more]

Outraged Hearts: “The Pretty Trap” & “Interior: Panic”

May 19, 2025

Unfortunately, The Fire Weeds’ production directed by Jaclyn Bethany (who appears in both plays) is very uneven. An attempt at expressionism handled differently in each does not work for these Tennessee Williams’ plays. While “The Pretty Trap” eschews props for pantomiming, in “Interior: Panic” lighting designer Zoe Griffith has taken the stage direction “the light is normal” and literally bathed the stage in pink-red light periodically to suggest Blanche’s hallucinations. However, this is both distracting and intrusive. Of course, theatergoers are likely to know the longer more famous versions which are more fleshed out and have pertinent information not in the one act versions. [more]