Wasserstein set the character of Heidi up as the embodiment of a woman who goes through various phases of trying to find herself and square life’s realities with the principles she has attempted to live with as concerns and battles raged about the need for women to gain ground in a male-oriented society. Flipping back from Heidi’s lecture in 1989 on art history, her field of expertise, the play chronicles Heidi’s life beginning in high school in 1965. Moss is extremely impressive in expressing her lack of sureness about herself and the questionable contact with the men whom she meets.

The actress has the gift of showing so much about her feelings in crucial moments by facial expressions, whether it be upset, uncertainty, resentment or anger, as well as moments of beauty when she feels proud of her values and who she is. She has a commanding presence on stage in all situations, and she speaks with feeling and clarity. In her one big speech at a school reunion, she is superb in spontaneously letting her hair down with revealing negative remarks and an embarrassing personal, tearful meltdown. I have qualms about the play’s credibility at that point, as it is questionable whether a person of Heidi’s caliber would pitifully expose herself that way and I consider it a flaw in the writing even though theatrically it becomes a dramatic high point. But that said, Moss delivers the remarks poignantly, especially showing her acting prowess to almost guaranteed audience applause.

There is at one point a television scene in which Heidi and two male friends are interviewed by a ditsy, mugging host, hilariously performed by Tracee Chimo. When questions are tossed at Heidi, the men interrupt and take over, and you can see Heidi quietly fuming, and only later telling off the guys.

As for the men, they are acted excellently. Jason Biggs is convincing as Scoop Rosenbaum, who goes on to be successful as a publisher, but who is an egotist and manipulator who turns Heidi off even as she finds aspects of him attractive. Heidi maintains a long friendship with gay Peter Patron, who is colorfully and at times poignantly depicted by Bryce Pinkham, who matures into a dedicated doctor running a children’s clinic. One scene recalls what it was like for a gay man during the throes of the AIDS epidemic.

Another important character is Susan Johnston, Heidi’s friend, convincingly portrayed by Ali Ahn as she moves through the years to success as a television producer, and as revealed in a key scene, has been seduced by ambition and has little left of the social passion with which she, Heidi and their friends started out. Chimo, Leighton Bryan and Elise Kibler take on multiple women’s roles, as does Andy Truschinski with male roles.