"Mary Jane,” which opened on Monday at New York Theater Workshop, is a heartbreaker for anyone human. That’s in part the result of a very delicate sleight of hand Ms. Herzog executes in shaping the story...[A] series of home visits by four other women...structure the first half of the play...brought to beautifully detailed life by Brenda Wehle, Liza Colón-Zayas, Danaya Esperanza and Susan Pourfar act[ing] as a four-part treble chorus, reflecting Mary Jane’s disowned emotions" - Full Review at The New York Times
Other Reviews:
Variety - "A heart-stopping play about women as domestic caretakers....Amy Herzog’s devastating new work, now playing at New York Theater Workshop and featuring an infinitely optimistic single mother struggling to provide 24-hour care for her special-needs child, is must-see theater for anyone with a heart."
The Hollywood Reporter -"Confirming its author as one of the most lucid and sensitive American playwriting voices to have emerged in the past decade, this beautiful new work is directed with ultra-naturalistic subtlety by Anne Kauffman and acted by an exemplary five-member, all-female ensemble that takes that same cue, led by Carrie Coon in a performance as wrenching as it is restrained."
The New Yorker - "Amy Herzog’s beautiful new play, “Mary Jane” (at the New York Theatre Workshop), is about family and illness, and how the difficulties inherent in caring for the infirm can strengthen familial bonds—or erode them....Ruthie (the brilliant Brenda Wehle), Mary Jane’s super, moves at her own pace. Ruthie is what you might call humor-challenged; she’s most interested in imminent disaster, like the cancer that threatens us all, just outside the door. ...Ruthie is a great creation—ZaSu Pitts by way of Marjorie Main."
The Washington Post - "For a heart-piercing ride-along on the avalanche of emotion engulfing the parent of a desperately ill, incapacitated child, playwright Amy Herzog exceeds her own fine record of accomplishment with “Mary Jane."....in New York Theatre Workshop’s impeccable production, flawlessly directed by Anne Kauffman...Herzog invests in each of her characters — [two] others are played with disarming clarity by Danaya Esperanza and Brenda Wehle — a beguiling sense of authenticity.
Other Reviews:
Variety - "A heart-stopping play about women as domestic caretakers....Amy Herzog’s devastating new work, now playing at New York Theater Workshop and featuring an infinitely optimistic single mother struggling to provide 24-hour care for her special-needs child, is must-see theater for anyone with a heart."
The Hollywood Reporter -"Confirming its author as one of the most lucid and sensitive American playwriting voices to have emerged in the past decade, this beautiful new work is directed with ultra-naturalistic subtlety by Anne Kauffman and acted by an exemplary five-member, all-female ensemble that takes that same cue, led by Carrie Coon in a performance as wrenching as it is restrained."
The New Yorker - "Amy Herzog’s beautiful new play, “Mary Jane” (at the New York Theatre Workshop), is about family and illness, and how the difficulties inherent in caring for the infirm can strengthen familial bonds—or erode them....Ruthie (the brilliant Brenda Wehle), Mary Jane’s super, moves at her own pace. Ruthie is what you might call humor-challenged; she’s most interested in imminent disaster, like the cancer that threatens us all, just outside the door. ...Ruthie is a great creation—ZaSu Pitts by way of Marjorie Main."
The Washington Post - "For a heart-piercing ride-along on the avalanche of emotion engulfing the parent of a desperately ill, incapacitated child, playwright Amy Herzog exceeds her own fine record of accomplishment with “Mary Jane."....in New York Theatre Workshop’s impeccable production, flawlessly directed by Anne Kauffman...Herzog invests in each of her characters — [two] others are played with disarming clarity by Danaya Esperanza and Brenda Wehle — a beguiling sense of authenticity.
