Brenda Wehle
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Mary Jane by Amy Herzog |New York Theater Workshop | Directed by Anne Kauffman

9/25/2017

 
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"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.


The Crucible directed by Ivo Von Hove

4/3/2016

 
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"There are incisive performances from Jason Butler Harner as Abigail's uncle, the slippery Rev. Samuel Parris, [...], Tina Benko and Thomas Jay Ryan [...]; and Brenda Wehle, superb as Rebecca Nurse, a charitable pillar of the community who dismisses the adolescent girls' feverishness as the "silly season" she recognizes from her numerous children and grandchildren."  Full Review at The Hollywood Reporter
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Other Reviews:

The New York Times - "The director Ivo van Hove and a dazzling international cast [ .. . ] have plumbed the raw terror in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” which opened on Thursday night at the Walter Kerr Theater. And an endlessly revived historical drama from 1953 suddenly feels like the freshest, scariest play in town.

The Washington Post - "Van Hove’s fully-realized version puts ecstatic new flesh on the estimable bones of one of Miller’s greatest plays."

Vulture - "[A] gripping, emotional revival, directed by the Belgian avant-gardist Ivo van Hove...[. . .] In important supporting roles, Jason Butler Harner, Tina Benko, Thomas Jay Ryan, Brenda Wehle, Bill Camp, and Jim Norton all make strong impressions while being dragged down by the whirlpool of communal rage."

Obie Award Winner for "Intelligent Homosexual's Guide..."

5/16/2011

 
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"The Obie judges spread out their acting honors this year [...] awards recognizing individuals performances this year went to [...] Brenda Wehle (“The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures”) 

via The New York Times

REVIEW : "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide..." in The Threepenny Review

4/20/2011

 
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"...as embodied in a quietly terrific performance by Brenda Wehle, Clio represents the dry, skeptical sanity that lies on the far side of an insane zeal."

- The Threepenny Review, Kushner's "Intelligent Homosexual's Guide..."

Interview with The Actor's Center Online Journal

3/9/2011

 
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Brenda was interviewed by Philip Carlson for The Actor's Center. You can find the interview in its entirety by clicking here.

REVIEW: "Come Back, Little Sheba" in The New York Times

1/25/2008

 
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"...All through the play, Lola has had the air of someone expecting to be rebuffed, put down, hit or sent packing, whether cozying up to Doc or making nice with her supremely competent neighbor (Brenda Wehle, excellent)...."
 

   - The New York Times


REVIEW: "Pygmalion" in Variety

10/26/2007

 
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"The most enjoyable performances come from the senior women in the cast. Brenda Wehle never pushes too hard as Henry's housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, yet makes the most of the pragmatic woman's long-suffering exasperation..."

- Variety