Mariette Hartley

Playwright Anne Commire wrote about subjects certain to make her audience squirm, repeatedly confronting what she called "the breaking points of women."

"The idea of someone who's continuously being pushed to the edge is what fascinates me," she once said.

When she invariably intertwined comedy and pathos, critics noted that Commire's sense of humor was a strength.

Her play "Shay," presented in 1983 at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles, featured an acutely shy woman who purposely slashes her mouth after an agonizing social occasion. But she also admires snow because it makes everything match.

Commire, who was also an editor and...