Chris Gaffari, Carmen Zilles, Dakin Matthews, Mary Beth Peil, Ryan Spahn, Robert Sean Leonard, Jean Lichty (Photo: Joan Marcus)
An American Daughter
by Deb Miller on August 20, 2026
Following its debut in 1996, and its ill-received New York premiere at Lincoln Center in 1997, An American Daughter, by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Wendy Wasserstein, has returned to the NYC stage. Presented by La Femme Theatre Productions – a company dedicated to plays written by and focused on women – this first Off-Broadway revival is now playing a limited engagement at Pershing Square Signature Center.
La Femme Executive Director Jean Lichty (who stars in the lead role), actor and script supervisor Will DeVary, and director Sarna Lapine devised the current adaptation with the approval of André Bishop (co-executor of Wasserstein’s estate and former artistic director of Playwrights Horizons and Lincoln Center Theater). This updated version, based on Wasserstein’s eight original revised scripts, features a previously unpublished second act. It also makes it clear why the show was a flop and hadn’t been seen in NYC in thirty years.
Set in 1997, the play takes place in the grand upscale Georgetown living room of Dr. Lyssa Dent Hughes (Lichty), the fifth-generation granddaughter of President Ulysses S. Grant and a current nominee for the position of US Surgeon General. The story follows the fall of this privileged and influential woman.
At an in-house interview, two men close to her — husband Walter Abrahmson (Robert Sean Leonard) and their gay, pro-life, Republican friend Morrow McCarthy (Ryan Spahn) – discuss that the busy candidate had unwittingly neglected her summons for jury duty, with no legal ramifications. The resulting scandal ignites a media frenzy, threatens her career and reputation, tears apart her inner circle, and brings an end to her dream of public service. Also, she makes a statement about her late mother that is seen as degrading to non-working women, and has a further impact on her declining popularity.
The fictionalized narrative was clearly inspired by the real-life missteps of Hillary and Bill Clinton: her 1992 comment, “I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies, and had teas” was taken as an insult to traditional housewives, and the 1993 “Nannygate” incidents that derailed two of his female nominations for US Attorney General. It also references his extra-marital infidelity with Monica Lewinsky – here, in Walter first seen kissing, then confirming that he was sleeping with, the aggressive young reporter Quincy Quince (Carmen Zilles). She is Walter’s former student and a self-proclaimed feminist, whose behavior towards Lyssa and her husband is anything but.
Dakin Matthews, Mary Beth Peil (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Added into the at-odds group are Lyssa’s father Alan Hughes (Dakin Matthews), a Republican Senator with a superficial jovial demeanor, and his slender fourth wife Charlotte (Mary Beth Peil), nicknamed “Chubby” (an example of the show’s strained wit). Both the Senator and wife are from Indiana, but the seasoned actors oddly affect southern accents. Lyssa’s longtime best friend Dr. Judith B. Kaufman (Montego Glover), a divorced half-Black, half-Jewish oncologist who longs for a child and keeps trying, unsuccessfully, in-vitro fertilization, also makes recurrent visits and does her best to encourage and to defend Lyssa (Judith’s incisively sharp and controlled interview is one of the production’s high points).
Montego Glover, Jean Lichty (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Rounding out the cast of characters are TV reporter Timber Tucker (Chris Ghaffari), who, though largely in agreement with Lyssa’s liberal political stance, does damaging coverage of her and those closest to her to advance his own career; and Billy Robbins (Will DeVary, who doubles as the TV cameraman), a young strategist hired to advise Lyssa on what to wear, what to say, and how to behave, to salvage her public image in her upcoming interview (spoiler: It doesn’t work).
Although the show addresses significant socio-political issues, under the direction of Lapine, the jokey and stilted tone, with non-stop wisecracks and attempts at humor that fail to land, only makes us wonder why these incompatible, and largely unlikable people would ever be in the same room together. It also makes us unsympathetic to them and their situations, until Lyssa, in a climactic outburst in the second act, adamantly expresses herself with honesty and candor (another spoiler: that doesn’t work for her, either).
What does work best in the production is the artistic design. The set (Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams) is indicative of Lyssa’s life of wealth and privilege. Props (Kathy Fabian/Propstar), including an over-sized remote control and vinyl pop albums from their youth in the 1960s are indicative of the times and the differing tastes of the central couple. Alan C. Edward provides the lighting; sound, by Darron L. West. Costumes (with Risa Ando serving as Consultant) are well-suited to the characters, their personalities, ages, and status; Lyssa’s costumes in particular reflect the principal inspiration of Hillary Clinton.
In keeping with Wasserstein’s and La Femme’s commitment to female-centric work, An American Daughter is intended to reflect the unfair sexual politics and gender biases that persist in our country. While the message is clear, the writing, direction, and acting feel forced and dated, detract from the significance of the theme, and do little to advance the feminist cause.
An American Daughter
At Pershing Square Signature Center, The Irene Diamond Stage
480 West 42nd St.
Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes, one intermission
Through September 20, 2026