Megan Terry’s hit play Viet Rock (1966) came about after an exploration of emotions about the Vietnam War that Terry conducted with some of the participants in an improvisational workshop she created. It is considered the first rock musical produced in the United States and the first play on the topic of the bloodshed in Vietnam.

Playwright Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles (1988) relates the story of Heidi Holland from her childhood in the 1960s through the 1980s, illustrating the influence of feminism on her life and the lives of her friends. Both men and women congregate in consciousness-raising sessions to discuss what women need to do to truly be empowered in the future.

Actress Lily Tomlin starred in the one-woman play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985) written by Jane Wagner. The play examines the relationships between many different women. One of the more powerful scenes has Tomlin’s character reflecting on an old journal she finds, one that she wrote during the 1970s when she was involved in the women’s movement.

Jane Martin’s Keely and Du (1993) involves the issue of abortion. Keely is pregnant and must confront a segment of the religious right that tries to keep her from getting the abortion. In the process, she is befriended by Du, who supports her decision despite her own philosophical reasoning.

The relationships between mothers and daughters are examined in Charlotte Keatley’s play My Mother Said I Never Should (1988). Four different generations are represented in this fourwoman play, which explores four historical defi- nitions of family. During several breaks in the normal time frames, the four women are transformed into children. It is in these scenes that they are able to break through the barriers that separate them and find the common ground that binds them.

Susan Glaspell’s Trifles (1916) investigates the sisterhood that many women share. The play revolves around two housewives, who discuss the case of a woman who has been accused of murdering her husband.

Women are unable to solve their problems in Pam Gems’s play Dusa, Fish, Stas, and Vi (1972), and one of the four characters ends up committing suicide. The four women are overwhelmed by the effects of divorce, anorexia, the loss of children, and other debilitating challenges that they must face.

Caryl Churchill’s play Top Girls (1982) contrasts the lives of professional women who have found success in business with those who have not.