The Mai at Illinois State University

“The Mai” is the moving story of four generations of women in one family in the midlands. An accomplished, beautiful forty-year-old woman,

The Mai has always sought an exceptional life. We enter the world of The Mai on the day of her husband’s return after an absence of four years. In the midst of their troubled reunion are the idiosyncratic and comical characters that comprise the family. Irreverent and unapologetic, the opium-smoking, 100-year-old matriarch, Grandma Fraochlan, presides over all.

The "Spanish Beauty", as she is known, reminds us that the past is looming ever present.



Rich in comedic performances throughout Balally Players are proud to present this modern classic of Irish theatre by Marina Carr.