The Heidi Chronicles: It’s a Woman’s World

Trinity Repertory Company has delivered a first-rate production of playwright Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles, and Angela Brazil delivers a winning performance as Heidi Holland, an art historian who is perpetually searching for fulfillment.

Directed with a lot of polish by Vivienne Benesch, the story follows Heidi over the course of three decades, from the 1960s through the late 1980s. Two men become a major part of her life: Peter, a gay pediatrician who becomes a close friend, and Scoop, a journalist who falls in love with Heidi.

Heidi begins to discover who she really is at a woman’s encounter group meeting. A few years later, she is leading a protest against the lack of artwork by women at the Chicago Art Institute. Heidi has a successful career and many female friends yet she feels oddly incomplete. “I’ve been sad for a long time,” Heidi confesses to Peter.

The Heidi Chronicles features snappy dialogue and some keen insights into human nature. Wasserstein has created flawed three-dimensional human beings, not cartoon characters. What boosts this production are some outstanding supporting performances, especially by Charlie Thurston as Peter, who is kind of gawky when he first meets Heidi but soon transforms into a handsome and confident man. Thurston deftly alternates between pathos and irreverent comedy.

Mauro Hantman is also excellent as Scoop, who is supremely self-confident. Hantman and Brazil have some lovely moments together, including their dance at a wedding reception.

Rebecca Gibel plays multiple roles to great effect, including a vapid television talk-show host and Scoop’s fiancee. Gibel is tremendously skilled at bringing these types of ditzy characters to life.

I also enjoyed watching Rachel Christopher as Heidi’s friend Susan, a horribly self-important television producer.

Lee Savage’s set design is spectacular. There is a truly gorgeous college seminar room, a posh New York City apartment, and a television studio. A large rectangular screen displays the dates and settings of the scenes, and Tracy Christensen’s costumes reflect the changing styles of the 1960s and ’70s.

However, none of this would matter as much if it weren’t for Brazil, who carries this production with class and charm. She makes Heidi a sympathetic and captivating heroine. At the end of the play, when Heidi finds what she’s been looking for, the joy she feels is infectious.

The Heidi Chronicles runs through January 3, 2016. Tickets are on sale now and by phone at 401-351-4242, online at trinityrep.com, or in person at the theater’s box office at 201 Washington St, Providence.