Award-Winning Photographer and Writer Jill Krementz on Playwright Wendy Wasserstein
A portrait of the playwright by Jill KrementzIt’s hard to remember exactly when I first met Wendy. I think I speak for so many. By the time any of us had seen The Heidi Chronicles we felt she was an old friend—the smartest one at the pajama party, the girl who was nice to everyone. You didn’t even feel intimidated by her brilliance because hadn’t she written exactly what we were all thinking? Wendy had a way of letting us hear our own thoughts and laugh while we listened.
I loved her thick curly hair, her fabulous shoes, the magnanimous way she made you feel that you were her friend, and her infectious giggle.
The last time I photographed Wendy she and her mother Lola were both barefoot and singing old show tunes. They were twirling around the nursery with darling Lucy Jane who was wearing a leopard outfit and tiny white “cat-socks” adorned with pink ears and black whiskers.
Wendy was the perfect name. I see her now, dancing around the nursery but this one has large French windows with white organdy curtains. She’s off to tell wonderful stories to all the lost boys. I’m glad she left so many good ones for us.
Jill Krementz is a photographer and author. She has published more than 30 books, including The Writer's Desk, Very Young Rider, The Jewish Writer, and How It Feels When a Parent Dies. She was married to Kurt Vonnegut for almost 30 years.