REVIEW: Mary Jane at Bridge street theatre
Through 6/1 @ Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill
Photos by Jeff Hewitt
“The wait has been more than worth it as this stunning heartbreaker of a show works its magic on you.”
Bridge Street Theatre has been working diligently, patiently and vocally for years to bring Mary Jane by Amy Herzog to their intimate theatre in Catskill, the time and efforts were well spent. I think you will agree with me that the wait has been more than worth it as this stunning heartbreaker of a show works its magic on you.
Mary Jane is a structurally clever, at times very funny, agonizing exploration of caregiving, motherhood and faith in insurmountable circumstances. Single mother Mary Jane’s 3 year old son Alex was born 10 months premature, has had three strokes and requires round the clock home health care.
The play moves forward and back as Mary Jane (the extraordinary Amy Crossman making her BST debut) has scenes in her apartment with her super (the glorious Roxanne Fay triumphantly returning to BST) another parent of a special needs child named Sherry (Renee Hewitt) and a registered nurse (Marianne Matthews) and her bright niece Amelia (Clarissa Hernandez).
The play shifts to the hospital and the same four actors play a doctor who seems to have misplaced the care in health care (Matthews again in what may be the only scene that’s a tad forced), a young Orthodox mother of seven Chaya Hewitt in a very touching scene, beautifully written), the long awaited music therapist (Hernandez, awkward and eager to help) and finally a Buddhist nun, Fay again placing a benediction on the evening.
The play surprises us as much as its characters. When Mary Jane is imparting all the ways in which Sherry needs to be prepared for her meeting with social services, you see the level of care which she wishes she had received when she was experiencing those headaches. Crossman is superb in this scene as her mind jumps tracks and remembered aggravations pop into her head. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The writing is the best you could hope for in a theater. It is by turns rueful, searching, appalled and always positive. This is no rant against healthcare in America although there’s plenty of material there as Mary Jane fights for her benefits coverage (“I’m very employable until you get to know me.”) and she is treated dismissively by a doctor in the second act for worrying about excessive radiation from daily x-rays which won’t affect her son for 20 or 30 years and her son, well…
The predominant feeling of the play is energized hopefulness and a can-do spirit with much humor which Amy Herzog must have known well as the mother of a daughter, Frances, who was born with nemaline myopathy and passed away in 2023. Crossman does full justice to the playwright’s troubled journey as a mother and Herzog’s ranking in the top tier of our dramatists working today.
Director Zoya Kachadurian has cast exceptionally well, the minimal sets by Carmen Borgia work well and the modest production has all it needs to tell the story powerfully.
Thank you to Bridge Street for fighting the good fight and bringing this extraordinary contemporary play about caring for the most needy to Catskill. It’s another home run.
Mary Jane plays at Bridge Street Theatre (44 W Bridge Street, Catskill, NY 12414) through 6/1. Tickets:www.bridgest.org
