"Thank you. It's truly an honor to be here today. I've always wanted to be in Full Moon, and this is the only way I figured out how to do it. So in two hours, I'll be on that moon with the great Bill Irwin.

The other night at a New York dinner party at Liz Robbins' house, the arts lobbyist, I sat next to Jim Robinson, the chairman of Scholastic Magazine, who said to me, "I hear you're giving the Nancy Hanks lecture." He went on to tell me that Nancy Hanks was on his board and what an extraordinary woman she was. He said, "She single-handily changed arts funding in this country, and she also taught me a very important lesson. She told me you have to know when to ask for help." So for the extraordinary Nancy Hanks, and her legacy, I hope tonight can offer some deep apprecia­tion and a little help from a friend.

When I look back on my own childhood, I would say in many ways the arts saved my life. Well, if not saved then gave it all the shape and a purpose. I'm often asked how I started writing plays. I can assure you that my nice Jewish parents never said to me, "Wendy, darling, please, please go into the not-for­profit theater. Whatever you do, we want you to have a life that is as financially insecure as possible. Please date actors. Rely on the kindness of critics and for heaven's sake, have no responsible health insurance." [Excerpt from transcript, p. 1]

The 12th annual Nancy Hanks lecture on arts and public policy, presented by the American Council for the Arts, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Eisenhower Theater, Washington, DC, March 15, 1999. The transcript is from the lecturer's talk, Wendy Wasserstein.

A Pulitzer prize-winning playwright whose work reflects both with and wisdom, Wendy Wasserstein is a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn and raised in Manhattan. In 1989, her play, The Heidi Chronicles, earned her critical acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critic's Circle Prize, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Tony Award.