Over the past quarter century, Primary Stages has given life to over 100 new plays, many of which have gone on to be produced all over the nation to critical and popular acclaim, including David Ives’ All in the Timing, Horton Foote’s Dividing the Estate, Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter’s In the Continuum, as well as new works by Christopher Durang, Terrence McNally, John Patrick Shanley, and many more. In honor of their twenty-fifth year, Primary Stages is devoting their entire season to female playwrights, including Cusi Cram, whose A Lifetime Burning kicks off their silver anniversary.

A Lifetime Burning unfolds at a sumptuously decorated Manhattan apartment that any audience member would kill for. Or at least concoct a falsified memoir to get a six-figure advance from a lauded book publisher. Which is exactly what Emma did, much to the consternation of Tess, who is rankled that her Irish WASPy sister raised in Westchester is attempting to pass off an “autobiographical” work where she claims to be a quarter Incan and sired in the streets of Spanish Harlem. (Any resemblance to James Frey's A Million LIttle Pieces or especially, Margaret Seltzer's Love and Consequences is clearly intentional -- or at least serves as inspiration.)

“I couldn’t bear to write about my stupid life,” Emma says. “It’s me, but better… A more palatable person. If you can’t change your story, what’s the point?” As the sisters battle, vodka flows freely while tongues are loosened, truths are revealed, and issues of home, loyalty, mental illness, and reality-versus-fiction rise to the surface as Emma unravels the incidents that led to the imminent publication of her book.

Which is not to say that Cusi Cram has written a bleak, depressing play. Quite on the contrary, A Lifetime Burning sparkles with laugh-out-loud brittle wit, including Emma’s assertions that her slim figure is due to her condition as a “drunkarexic,” and a hat-tip to Carrie Bradshaw and Sylvia Plath as she describes her life as “Bell Jar in the City.” Cram is fortunate to have Jennifer Westfeldt performing the role of Emma. Westfeldt, best known for the charming film Kissing Jessica Stein and her luminous turn in Broadway’s Wonderful Town, plumbs heretofore unseen depths as her bipolar character vacillates between manic highs and murky lows, leaving the stage only briefly during its 100-minute running time to change costumes.

The rest of the cast is equally fantastic, including Christina Kirk as Emma’s resentful sister; Raúl Castillo as a sexy young immigrant who inspires Emma as she tutors him for his GED; and Isabel Keating (Judy Garland in The Boy from Oz opposite Hugh Jackman) as Emma’s publisher, Lydia Freemantle. Keating, especially commands the stage like Anna Wintour on a bender, flashing Theresa Squire’s meticulously designed costumes. Likewise, David Weiner’s lighting design ingeniously creates a tutoring session, Freemantle’s office, and a nightclub out of scenic designer Kris Stone’s modern, elegant apartment. Credit is also due to director Pam MacKinnon’s thoughtful, fluid staging.

Primary Stages continues their 25th Anniversary season next month with The Night Watcher, Charlayne Woodard’s autobiographical one-woman show directed by Daniel Sullivan, an intimate look at the various definitions of parenthood. And in January, Primary Stages will present the New York premiere of Lucinda Coxon’s Happy Now?, a truthful and comic take on contemporary life and how to survive it. For more information, visit www.PrimaryStages.org.