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The Waiting Room
The Waiting Room by Loomer,Lisa. [1998] Paperback
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
1 person is currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Loomer
16 books4 followersLisa Loomer is an acclaimed American playwright and screenwriter whose work often explores family life, cultural identity, and pressing social issues. She is best known for The Waiting Room, a widely produced play examining body image and societal beauty standards across different cultures and eras. Her powerful storytelling also shaped the screenplay for the film Girl, Interrupted.
Born in New York, Loomer later moved to Mexico, an experience that deepened her connection to Latina and immigrant narratives, which often appear in her work. She studied theatre at Brandeis University and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, beginning her career as an actress and stand-up comic before turning to playwriting.
Loomer's plays, including Roe, Living Out, Distracted, and Homefree, have premiered at major theaters such as the Mark Taper Forum, Arena Stage, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, with many receiving national and international productions. Her work has been honored with awards such as the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the American Theatre Critics Association Award.
In addition to her plays, Loomer has written for television and film, with credits including Girl, Interrupted, Nappily Ever After, and TV pilots for HBO, CBS, and Showtime. She served as a supervising producer for the second season of Love Is… on OWN. In 2023, she adapted Real Women Have Curves into a stage musical.
Her writing is widely studied in university drama, Women’s Studies, and Latino Studies programs. An alumna of New Dramatists, Loomer’s work is celebrated for its wit, heart, and incisive social commentary, making her one of the most important voices in contemporary American theatre.
Born in New York, Loomer later moved to Mexico, an experience that deepened her connection to Latina and immigrant narratives, which often appear in her work. She studied theatre at Brandeis University and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, beginning her career as an actress and stand-up comic before turning to playwriting.
Loomer's plays, including Roe, Living Out, Distracted, and Homefree, have premiered at major theaters such as the Mark Taper Forum, Arena Stage, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, with many receiving national and international productions. Her work has been honored with awards such as the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the American Theatre Critics Association Award.
In addition to her plays, Loomer has written for television and film, with credits including Girl, Interrupted, Nappily Ever After, and TV pilots for HBO, CBS, and Showtime. She served as a supervising producer for the second season of Love Is… on OWN. In 2023, she adapted Real Women Have Curves into a stage musical.
Her writing is widely studied in university drama, Women’s Studies, and Latino Studies programs. An alumna of New Dramatists, Loomer’s work is celebrated for its wit, heart, and incisive social commentary, making her one of the most important voices in contemporary American theatre.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 26, 2025
It's not something I would normally read, but I'm glad I did.
The commentary on "big pharma" was somewhat informative and funny at the same time, which is a hard thing to do.
I enjoyed the female friendships and the insights to their hardships. Victoria, Wanda, and Forgiveness From Heaven were all so interesting by themselves, and so very different from each other, but they all had a great frienship form.
Really excited to read for the monologue.
The commentary on "big pharma" was somewhat informative and funny at the same time, which is a hard thing to do.
I enjoyed the female friendships and the insights to their hardships. Victoria, Wanda, and Forgiveness From Heaven were all so interesting by themselves, and so very different from each other, but they all had a great frienship form.
Really excited to read for the monologue.
April 10, 2015
My university will be doing a production of this next spring which I will hopefully be stage managing if scheduling works out. I wasn't really sure how I felt about it in act one but as act two went on I really liked it and a lot of the messages! I would love to work on this piece.
January 19, 2009
Ugh, I am a naughty feminist and not particularly impressed with Lisa Loomer's body of work. This particular play of hers bored me more than most. Felt like a waste of time to make a lot of observations that have already been made by others and in better ways.
June 3, 2015
Interesting juxtaposition: Chinese foot-binding, Victorian corseting/hysteria, American breast implants/cancer. Three different characters, thankfully.
January 26, 2020
A Chinese woman from the 18th century with toes rotting off due to bound feet, a Victorian woman who isn't so bothered by her corset as by not wanting her ovaries removed due to "hysteria," and a modern black woman with breast enhancements and possibly a major diagnosis are all getting treated by a well meaning doctor that is a product of the times -- and thus are in and out of "the waiting room."
Lisa Loomer does a wonderful job opening up several different topics for discussion, in a way that can and will be relevant for years (unfortunately).
On one hand, it's about what women have done through the years in order to be desirable to me -- often at their own expense.
Another theme is the politics of modern healthcare. The doctor advocates for his patients, but is at the mercy of the FDA and pharmaceutical companies that are more interested in a treatment's economics than accessibility or success rate.
Where those intersect is in a woman's ability - or lack thereof - to choose what is best for her. This requires navigating medical misinformation and competing opinions. The characters in the show come from incredibly different walks of life, but as the show goes on, you realize their problems - and what caused them - are very similar.
I'd love to see this done live, but for any theaters reading, it is not something likely to be done well by a high school. It requires the sensitive representation of several cultures. It would be beautiful done well. It would be disservice to do poorly, even if well-intentioned.
Lisa Loomer does a wonderful job opening up several different topics for discussion, in a way that can and will be relevant for years (unfortunately).
On one hand, it's about what women have done through the years in order to be desirable to me -- often at their own expense.
Another theme is the politics of modern healthcare. The doctor advocates for his patients, but is at the mercy of the FDA and pharmaceutical companies that are more interested in a treatment's economics than accessibility or success rate.
Where those intersect is in a woman's ability - or lack thereof - to choose what is best for her. This requires navigating medical misinformation and competing opinions. The characters in the show come from incredibly different walks of life, but as the show goes on, you realize their problems - and what caused them - are very similar.
I'd love to see this done live, but for any theaters reading, it is not something likely to be done well by a high school. It requires the sensitive representation of several cultures. It would be beautiful done well. It would be disservice to do poorly, even if well-intentioned.
June 23, 2019
When I was searching for one-act plays for my American Literature class, I stumbled upon The Waiting Room. It is not a one-act play, and it is not a play for my high school.
It is a very interesting play. The premise is that three women are in the waiting room to see the doctor: one has bound feet, another damaged from wearing a corset, and a third with breast implants. All three, in suffering for the modifications they have made to their bodies are now in poor health. The doctor, who is not sympathetic and impotent to truly help them, since their problems arise from societal beliefs about beauty and not health, is pretty useless. Enter the pharmaceutical guy who has no ethics and the FDA guy who is pretty much a tool and join the three men together.
Clearly a commentary on the treatment and expectations for female bodies, as well as on the healthcare system, The Waiting Room is pretty brilliant and does not sugar coat. I would love to see it performed.
It is a very interesting play. The premise is that three women are in the waiting room to see the doctor: one has bound feet, another damaged from wearing a corset, and a third with breast implants. All three, in suffering for the modifications they have made to their bodies are now in poor health. The doctor, who is not sympathetic and impotent to truly help them, since their problems arise from societal beliefs about beauty and not health, is pretty useless. Enter the pharmaceutical guy who has no ethics and the FDA guy who is pretty much a tool and join the three men together.
Clearly a commentary on the treatment and expectations for female bodies, as well as on the healthcare system, The Waiting Room is pretty brilliant and does not sugar coat. I would love to see it performed.
December 3, 2018
Incredible play that needs to be read a second time to digest and absorb it all. Loomer's play throws numerous balls into the air and successfully juggles them all without any splattering. This play seems incredibly difficult and I would love to see a talented cast and company tackle it.
September 14, 2016
Nomadic SA Chick's Book Reviews
Review
Wow! Thinking back to this play still gives me chills. I wish I could find someplace near me that was putting this on. This play is powerful! It's amazing the things we as women will do to make ourselves feel beautiful and to try to attract the attention or to appease our mate. And, let's be honest, the mate we're talking about here is more often than not, male. In the year 2016 there are very few taboo subjects in America. there are few subjects we will not talk about with our girlfriends or in public, but rewind to 100, 200, or even 300 years ago, and everything was private. You barely talked to your doctor about private things, let alone your partner, and definitely your not your girlfriends. These were the days where the majority of our "lady issues" could be solved by "filling our uterus" (having a baby). This play is messed up. It's messed up because the history of women is messed up. Read this! Plays can be a bit difficult to read, but this one is well worth it, even if you're not used to reading plays. If you have the chance, go and see the play. There are a few good ones on YouTube, but I have a feeling it's better live.
Ratings (based on a 10 point scale)
Quality of Writing - 9
Pace - 6
Plot Development - 7
Characters - 7
Enjoyability - 8
Insightfulness - 7
Ease of Reading - 6
Photos/Illustrations - N/A
Overall Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
Review
Wow! Thinking back to this play still gives me chills. I wish I could find someplace near me that was putting this on. This play is powerful! It's amazing the things we as women will do to make ourselves feel beautiful and to try to attract the attention or to appease our mate. And, let's be honest, the mate we're talking about here is more often than not, male. In the year 2016 there are very few taboo subjects in America. there are few subjects we will not talk about with our girlfriends or in public, but rewind to 100, 200, or even 300 years ago, and everything was private. You barely talked to your doctor about private things, let alone your partner, and definitely your not your girlfriends. These were the days where the majority of our "lady issues" could be solved by "filling our uterus" (having a baby). This play is messed up. It's messed up because the history of women is messed up. Read this! Plays can be a bit difficult to read, but this one is well worth it, even if you're not used to reading plays. If you have the chance, go and see the play. There are a few good ones on YouTube, but I have a feeling it's better live.
Ratings (based on a 10 point scale)
Quality of Writing - 9
Pace - 6
Plot Development - 7
Characters - 7
Enjoyability - 8
Insightfulness - 7
Ease of Reading - 6
Photos/Illustrations - N/A
Overall Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
July 21, 2015
Loomer starts with a fascinating idea -- depicting how male-dominated medicine impacts women's health issues in three historical periods -- and explores it with an impressive theatricality. The ending is quite satisfying, but I think the play takes a dismally wrong turn in the second act when she inserts a scene of almost non-stop preaching on issues that are already clearly explicated through the characters' interactions.
December 31, 2015
Totally forgot to add this back when I read it for my theatre class last semester. Our teacher gave it to us in a PDF, and I'm constantly forgetting to update books on here if I don't have a physical copy of them.
January 11, 2015
I would love to direct this someday.
January 29, 2017
This poignant piece of writing touches on so much controversy in its few pages. It dares to show people for their inner-most aches and pains, truly relateable for anyone who has hurt.
April 25, 2017
I read this play for a feminist theatre course, and found I was pleasantly surprised.
Glancing over the character list and seeing things like "a tightly corseted English Victorian woman", "a wealthy eighteenth-century Chinese woman with bound feet" and "A modern gal from Jersey. Forty. Enormous breasts and perfected everything else, too" my immediate reaction was oh no it's Top Girls all over again. Instead, I found a poignant, funny, and all around weird reflection of the way women view themselves, and viewed, and handle the judgments centered around their appearance.
Glancing over the character list and seeing things like "a tightly corseted English Victorian woman", "a wealthy eighteenth-century Chinese woman with bound feet" and "A modern gal from Jersey. Forty. Enormous breasts and perfected everything else, too" my immediate reaction was oh no it's Top Girls all over again. Instead, I found a poignant, funny, and all around weird reflection of the way women view themselves, and viewed, and handle the judgments centered around their appearance.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews