Aparna Sri as Susan (left), Maggie Dennis as Denise (center) and Chelsey Megli as Heidi (right) star in 'The Heidi Chronicles.' The Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play runs at the Vagabond Players in Fells Point through May 3. Photo by Shealyn Jae Photography

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In the art world, perspective is defined as the way an artist can make a scene feel intimate, vast, small, realistic. The resulting work can make a plain, flat space appear three-dimensional and rich in detail.

Perspective is not only a tool of painters, but also writers. Take, for example, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein and her work of art, The Heidi Chronicles, which debuted on Broadway in 1989. The play is now on stage at Vagabond Players in Fells Point through May 3.

The play’s two acts both begin at the same time and place: It’s 1989 in a New York City lecture hall, and the title character, Heidi Holland (expertly played by Chelsey Megli), leads a slideshow of works by 16th- to 19th-century female painters. These parallel scenes foreshadow the key themes of each act: Act One shows how women’s contributions to society are often ignored, as well as the backlash of the 1960s. Act Two focuses on how the idealism of youth may fade amid the struggle to have it all.

After the opening, we travel with Heidi back to 1965 Chicago, a time vast with possibilities, such as love in the form of journalist Scoop Rosenbaum (William ‘BJ’ Darden) and close friendship with gay pediatrician Peter Patrone (Colin Tillery). It’s here the audience meets the real star of this production: Wasserstein’s brisk, comic, erudite script, delivered with aplomb by the cast.

The dialogue teems with references that only fans of American history or Baby Boomers are apt to pick up: “clean for Eugene,” referencing how so-called “longhaired hippie freaks” would need to “clean up their act” and get a haircut to appear more acceptable as they canvassed for 1968 Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy.

As we travel with Heidi through the years, there are references to the Beatles, the Nixon administration, consciousness-raising groups, exercise class culture (remember those Jane Fonda videos?), etc.

And to help sell the point, as each scene takes us through another portion of the three decades, images are cast onto a large screen that serves as the backdrop for the play. It’s a very effective, engaging device that helps the audience better follow the timeline and marks Heidi’s growth from a high school student to single parent.

A particularly comic yet telling scene comes in the second act as Heidi, Scoop and Peter appear on an ‘80s TV talk show to discuss the Boomer generation. Heidi is sandwiched between the two men, and they serve as a vise, squeezing her out of the conversation, asserting their male privilege — a phenomenon that a largely female audience seemed all too familiar with, given their murmured reactions.

Strong acting

Wasserstein deserves credit for making Heidi’s key support characters three-dimensional, rather than stereotypes or caricatures. Kudos to Aparna Sri (Susan Johnston), Nava Rastegar (Jill/Lisa), Penelope Chan (Debbie/Betsy), Maggie Dennis (Becky, Clara, Denise) Danae Nick (Fran/Molly/April) and Nathan Trexler (Chris Boxer, Mark, Waiter, Ray) for bringing depth and humor to their multiple roles.

Director Lee Conderacci does a masterful job in choreographing each scene as she weaves these nine actors through prologues and 11 separate scenes, ranging from New Hampshire to Michigan, an apartment to a TV studio, a restaurant to the Plaza Hotel to a pediatric ward, from the era of John Gunther’s Death Be Not Proud to the AIDS crisis of the Reagan ‘80s.

What does Heidi learn about herself, who she is, what she wants? Wasserstein paints a work reflecting the intimacy of friends and lovers, the painful yet joyful reality of family, all against the expanse of history, all seen through Heidi’s perspective.

The Heidi Chronicles is running at the Vagabond Players, located at 806 S. Broadway in Baltimore, now through May 3. For tickets and more information, visit vagabondplayers.org or call (410) 563-9135.