"I hate the times we're living in," says Laurie Jameson, an English professor at a small, unnamed New England college. Frustrated by the neoconservative turn that the U.S. has taken, not to mention her inability to effect change in her own life or the lives of those she loves most, Laurie instead flexes her muscles in the one arena where she still can do so: academia. In Wendy Wasserstein's engaging new play Third, the author examines power and privilege, and makes the point that even liberals can be narrow-minded.

Laurie, played by Academy Award-winner Dianne Wiest, is dedicated to challenging what she identifies as "the norms of dominant culture." She teaches her classes from an explicit[...]