Happy Birthday Wanda June marks the debut of novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., as a professional playwright. The play had its off-Broadway premiere on October 7th 1970, at the Theatre de Lys and, after a successful run of the 142 performances, closed to a full house on March 14th, 1971, at the Edison Theatre on Broadway. It has now been filmed with Rod Steiger and Susannah York. Vonnegut wrote the first version of the play, a satire on the trappings and traditions of heroism, ten years ago. He had been reading Homer and had become incensed with the notion of the hero-warrior. The play was performed experimentally at a theatre on Cape Cod, then Vonnegut threw the manuscript away. Two years later, at the suggestion of a producer, he rewrote and polished what ultimately became Happy Birthday Wanda June. 'The original gem- about our need for heroes and our fear of death-remains, 'he says. 'But now it's also about a new kind of American hero-the hero who refuses to kill'.