Some plays are like novels. They are complex, wide in scope and epic in nature. Others, like “Mary Jane,” playing through Sunday at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, are more like poems. They are gentle, mood evoking and intensely personal.
“Mary Jane,” Amy Herzog’s much-lauded play is a poem as it tells its story almost subliminally. It’s up to the audience to ponder the emotions of a situation that is without a solution.
Though seemingly a small meditation on caregiving, it tackles more profound questions about the fragility of life. “Mary Jane” can be interpreted as a work about the beauty of love, resilience in living and the value of existing within a supportive community. It’s about optimism in the face of tragedy. It’s about Motherhood and Sisterhood.
Mary Jane, the person, is a thirty-something single-mother of a two-year old child who is not destined to live a long life. Making it even more difficult, it is clear the child needs constant attention. The situation depletes the spirit and drains one’s finances.
In the title role, Amy Crossman starts the play as a perky chatterbox who seeks out the positive in everything. 90-minutes later, she is exhausted, drained of hope and tells a Buddhist monk, “ I don’t even know what to hope for anymore.”
It is a draining journey for an actress and the audience. Crossman wisely chooses not to over-dramatize the role, playing the character and finding her truth moment by moment, encounter by encounter. The result is an indelible portrait of a caring person who is beaten by circumstances beyond her control.
The play is offered in two parts, presented without an intermission. The first takes place in a Queens, N.Y. apartment. Mary Jane interacts with four women who are a part of the routine of her personal life who provide a support system for her and her child, who is never seen.
The second movement takes place in a hospital. The four actors play different characters. Well-intended staff are limited as to what help they can provide Mary Jane, and unconsciously, by never using her name they make an intensely person situation seem impersonal. A fellow caregiver shows that Mary Jane is not a unique case.
The most fascinating connection by the use of double casting is the opening scene and closing scene. In the first, Mary Jane interacts with her wise, earthy apartment super. In the final scene she connects with a Buddhist monk. Both are played by the splendid Roxanne Fay.
Though their lives are worlds apart, they are the same person in that each is secure in their own identities as individuals. They see life through an existentialist point of view. Not only are they secure in their own selves, they act as models for Mary Jane who is seeking to understand what cannot be understood. In essence, those two scenes define the play.
The other actors, Marianne Matthews, Clarissa Hernandez and Renee Hewitt do well creating sincere characters who want to be helpful, yet through no fault of their own, they fall short of what is needed. Each creation is true to the script and the author’s intent.
However, director Zoya Kachadurian, who, throughout the play, guides the characterizations with integrity, permits a sameness of pace for many scenes and characters. The sameness of tone can be harmful to material that demands intense concentration. My guess is this is what also hindered the abundant amount of wry humor in the play from landing on opening night.
“Mary Jane” is a smart but emotionally-wearing play that is well-worth experiencing. However, like even the best of poems, it will not satisfy everyone.
It continues through Sunday at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill. For ticket and schedule information go to bridgestreettheatre.org
