Tender Offer by Wendy Wasserstein

Tender Offer by Wendy Wasserstein

Characters:
1 Male, Paul (35)
1 Female, Lisa (9)

Audiences get a clear idea of the father-daughter relationship from the beginning of the show. Opening with Lisa idling dancing and singing while she waits for her father, Paul, the play starts to paint a picture of the typical businessman father who isn't around much for his child. He starts by trying to be friendly and joke around with her in attempt to make up for the recital that he missed while away at a meeting. Awkward tension floats around between the two, as this happens often, and the characters aren't as close as they'd like to be. Paul uses vocabulary more fit for his colleagues that his nine-year-old daughter, and Lisa goes on emotional tangents stemming from the dysfunction of their relationship. They continue talking over each others heads, and not quite meeting on the same page while still at the dance studio where Paul came to pick up Lisa in the first place. From searching for the girl's leg warmers, to complaining about an ugly trophy, they can't seem to bring themselves to head home yet. Stalling and even arguing continues until Paul realizes that something needs to change, regarding their relationship and the fact that they haven't left. He makes Lisa a "tender offer" basically promising to meet her halfway in creating a closer bond between them. This seems to close the gap in communication that has been present throughout the play and results in their singing and dancing to end the show happily.