Review: MARY JANE at Third Rail Repertory Theatre

All plays, at some level, are about human connection. But I can’t recall seeing a play that approaches this theme with tenderness and grace anywhere close to Amy Herzog’s Mary Jane, now running at Third Rail Repertory Theatre.

Mary Jane is a strange show – nothing much happens, yet it has an enormous impact. The title character (played by Rebecca Lingafelter) is the single mother of Alex, a two-year-old who was born very premature and has a variety of health problems, including cerebral palsy. He requires constant care, and Mary Jane spends her days coordinating that care while also holding down a job and dealing with all of the other things in life. 

The play opens in Mary Jane’s apartment, with Ruthie, the building superintendent (Diane Kondrat), working to unclog the kitchen sink. The two women talk about Alex, and about their lives. They share a Coke. The interaction isn’t very long, but the connection is real. And this is how the rest of the play unfolds, with Mary Jane sharing beautiful moments with people she meets along the way. There’s Sherry (Janelle Rae), the home health nurse who is the closest person Mary Jane may have to a friend, and her shy niece Amelia (Ash Heffernan); Brianne and Chaya (both played by Miriam Schwartz), who also have children with serious health issues; Kat, a music therapist (also Ash Heffernan); and Tenkei (also Diane Kondrat), a hospital chaplain.

The women meet, they talk, they care for each other. And over the course of the show, it becomes clear that the play is a powerful lesson in staving off despair and loneliness. Because ordinary Mary Jane has a superpower: creating authentic connections, even in exchanges lasting only a few minutes, by being kind and compassionate and caring. It may not sound like much, but in the context of our current national epidemic of loneliness and isolation, it’s nothing short of revelatory.

The casting could not be more perfect. Lingafelter is wonderful – her performance is warm and open, expressing all the emotions all at the same time. Overall, the whole cast brings it, and I often felt less like an audience member and more like a fly on the wall witnessing intimate moments in the characters’ lives.

Before you start thinking it might all be too mushy, let me reassure you that this production, directed by Joann Johnson, is also incredibly funny. Case in point, a scene in which Mary Jane and Tenkei attempt to determine the sex of a goldfish made me laugh harder than anything has in a very long time – another ordinary moment transformed into something extraordinary.

Mary Jane runs through June 4 at CoHo Theatre. I highly recommend you grab someone you’re grateful to have in your life and go see this gorgeous play. Details and tickets here.

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