Un Cubiche En la Luna: Tres Obras Teatrales Book

We have reached the three quarter mark of this crazy year, and I have reached the triple digit mark in my reading challenge. That is always my personal goal, but in this year like no other, the reading was not about how many award winners I could read or how many nonfiction or literary fiction volumes I could immerse myself in. As I have navigated 2020, I have found the most pleasure in reading through works by my favorite authors, both new and old. My reading thus far has included childhood favorites and the reread of new favorites over the last few years as well as taking the time for books by my new favorites. Even if my reading challenge might include less variety than in recent years, reading remains for me the ultimate escape. I have avoided reading books focusing on politics and other current events for the most part, but then I noticed a Wendy Wasserstein play I had not read yet. Although it is full of her one of a kind trademark humor, An American Daughter is both political and ahead of its time (1998). In this attempt for Wasserstein to be "serious," she rips pages from the headlines with a female politician protagonist who grapples with the 1990s feminist mantra to be a woman who "has it all." In today's era of polarized politics, I knew that Wasserstein's take on Washington of twenty years ago would be both a relief and a must read, as is everything she wrote.

Lyssa Dent Hughes is the fifth generation removed from President Ulysses S. Grant, from whom she got her name. She is a PhD medical doctor and the current nominee for U.S. surgeon general and would be the first woman to hold the post. She is the pride and joy of her father, Indiana Senator Alan Hughes, but other than a shared love of public service, the only thing the two agree on is their distaste for wet coleslaw. Alan Hughes is a six term Republican Senator, who had previously been the mayor of Fort Wayne. Lyssa grew up among political rallies and campaigns, and after attending an eastern boarding school and then an Ivy League University, she aspired to one day hold a higher office. Although from the heartland, Lyssa is not a soccer mom even though she is the proud mother of twin boys, being brought up in the then new culture where kids are plugged onto the internet 24/7. In the late 1990s, this was in the form of chat rooms, before the emerging twenty four hour news cycle. Lyssa built and ran a hospital from the ground up and is supportive of women's health issues. Her husband Walter Abrahmson is a women's studies professor, and she can count the First Lady as a personal friend. With her pedigree and connections, it appears that Lyssa is a shoe in for the job, giving the younger generation of girls in STEM a new role model.

At a legendary brunch the day after the nomination, Lyssa and Walter's friends and family from across the political spectrum converge at their Georgetown home. This includes reporter Timber Tucker, who is filming the brunch, and the Hughes' close friend Morrow, a conservative gay pundit. Gay rights was not at the forefront of society twenty years ago as it is now; in this, Wasserstein was ahead of society's curve. To contrast with Morrow, we are presented with Lyssa's other best friend Dr. Judith Kaufman, an African American Jewish doctor. She is still single because as a multicultural person, she checks off too many boxes, and society does not know where to place her. She is holding out hope for an African American Jewish doctor to cross her path, but the prospects seem few and far between. Unlike Lyssa, Dr. Kaufman has not done it all: she longs for a family and this remains a sticking point between the two women. Ironically, Dr Kaufman hits it off with Morrow, who is clearly not interested, evoking for me the images of women on television twenty years ago who complained that the best available men were gay. With all of these storylines, critics claim that in her attempt to be serious, Wasserstein tried to do too much. These ideas were her critique of a society that even after first wave feminism were overly critical of women like Lyssa Hughes who were accused of trying to have it all, like this was a bad thing. As a result, the tension builds, more than a 24 hour news cycle can provide.

In a critical remark, Morrow mentions that Lyssa one time failed to respond to a summons for jury duty. Stay at home moms criticize Lyssa for her "trying to do it all" life whereas "clean" politicians condemn her for shirking responsibility. In her life as a mother, hospital director, national speaker, and volunteer, perhaps the summons was overlooked. Wasserstein points out that had this been a male nominee, the media would have looked the other way. No one would have cared about his personal life, although in the late 1990s, some congressmen did resign after having affairs. With the birth of the internet and the information highway, anyone could obtain information about anyone else with the click of a mouse. The news was not as instant as it is now, but the technology was starting to slowly move in that direction. The line between public and private lives was beginning to blur, and Lyssa Hughes was made out to be an example. Both she and Walter in a follow up interview noted that their private life is just that: private. Sadly, the media and the soccer moms of the world thought otherwise; to them, Lyssa Hughes' private life is of their concern as is her one time oversight in neglecting jury duty. Perhaps, in juggling her responsibilities, Lyssa Hughes should not be an example of a 1990s woman who has done and had it all.

Fast forwarding twenty years, more women are choosing to be stay at home moms. There are working women in all fields but homemaker moms by choice as well. The moniker woman who has it all has receded, and feminist does not have the same connotation as it used to. A woman is allowed to choose what she wants, whether it is a working woman, working mother, stay at home mother, etc. And in our busy lives, if we inadvertently misplace a summons for jury duty, we are are forgiven for that as well. Lyssa Hughes was scrutinized politically because she was a woman, and family life is sadly still part of every female candidate's campaigning even now. One day, hopefully, this will be gender blind, but it still is not, the same way women still receive less pay for the same work as men. Women have shattered the glass ceiling, which is a recurring theme in many of Wasserstein's plays, and are living with the results of these actions. Rather than living the post college intellectual's life in Manhattan, Lyssa Hughes is a doctor and political aspirant in Washington, D.C., a step up from Wasserstein's other work. A visionary playwright, Wasserstein won a Pulitzer and Tony and was a definitive feminist playwright. Her attempt at what she called serious drama was above average but criticized by her fans desiring her trademark humor. The humor is there: just ask Lyssa Hughes her coleslaw preference. A descendant of a President and Senator, as a 1990s women Lyssa Hughes is more closely scrutinized than others desiring the same political position. In her unique take on this still relevant issue, Wendy Wasserstein has argued that this should not be the case and yet it still is. One day, hopefully soon, women should not have to feel like they have to "do it all" in order to be deemed like an American success story.

4 stars 👩🏻‍⚕️ 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 👩🏻‍🎓👩‍💼

This play is still relevant, with the Justine Sacco scandal still being pretty fresh and Ronson's 'So You've Been Publicly Shamed', which I happened to read this year. There's nothing better than tearing someone down for no other reason than we can. Well, not me.