Heartbreaking and Hopeful

Mary Jane

Northlight Theatre’s play for the New Year is about caregiving, friendship and about the fragility of our lives. Evoking endless empathy, Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright, Susan Herzog creates a powerful portrait of the helpless world for a single mother and her sick child. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, this 100-minute one-act luminously depicts the life of a parent whose life completely changes when she must suddenly center her entire world around a seriously ill infant. This moving drama is about a mother, her fragile little baby and the power of love. Herzog presents all manner of unimaginable complications and challenges that a caregiver must selflessly face. And through their network of generosity and solidarity her new, chosen family offers strength and care for both Mary Jane and baby Alex.

Hours following the premature birth of Mary Jane’s son, the little boy developed a brain bleed. For months little Alex, whose very existence was touch and go, spent his life in the hospital. Suddenly his mother’s life became a nightmare scenario of unexpected challenges, which she still takes day-by-day—and almost hour-by-hour— at a time.   

Beautifully directed by three-time Jeff-nominee Georgette Verdin, this deeply affecting drama plays out in primarily two-character episodes that occur over a series of three months. As the play opens, we find Mary Jane at the kitchen table of her modest Queens apartment. She’s shooting the breeze with Ruthie, her building superintendent (usually played by Mary Beth Fisher, but currently being portrayed by talented understudy, Barbara Figgins). The building super is trying to unclog the sink while Mary Jane fills her in on how Alex is doing lately. They’re discussing why the safety guardrails have been removed from the apartment windows, when suddenly a monitor begins beeping in the next room. And with that, an ordeal of new health complications arise for Mary Jane and her little boy.  

In the ensuing scenes we meet the other women who make up Mary Jane’s world. First we get to know Nurse Sherry (played with warmth and understanding by Elana Elyce), one of several deeply devoted professional home caregivers who assists with Alex. In the play’s only three-character scene, we’re introduced to Sherry’s precocious teenage niece, Amelia (an eloquent and lovely Kayah Marie Crosby). The audience observes more one-on-one scenes between Mary Jane and two other mothers, Brianne and Chaya (featuring the talented Dara Cameron nicely in the role two very different mothers), Dr. Toros (also portrayed by Elana Elyce) Kat, the overworked hospital musical therapist (characterized by Kayla Marie Crosby), and Tenkei (now enacted by Barbara Figgins), as one of the hospital chaplains. Throughout all of these encounters we discover Mary Jane’s strength, sense of humor and unshakable resilience. We come to completely understand a woman boldly trying to cope with isolation, exhaustion, setbacks and small victories—all of which make up the entirety of this woman’s life.

Staged on an impressively fluid scenic design by A Inn Doo, with area lighting designed by Eric Watkins, and original music and an authentic sound design by Christopher Kriz, this play flows easily between scenes. Steph Taylor’s contemporary costumes for the title character, help us appreciate Mary Jane’s strained economic status and understand the continual passage of time.

This is one of the strongest, most talented and versatile casts treading the boards today in Chicago. As Mary Jane, the role played on Broadway by Rachel McAdams, Lucy Carapetyan is brilliant. She creates a likable, very realistic young mother who is trying to maintain a calm optimism during all the trauma. Sometimes seeming glib, Mary Jane often uses humor to diffuse a bad situation or to weather the storm of upset and anguish that continually comes her way. Ms. Carapetyan has been seen at Northlight in LOUISA MAY ALCOTT’S LITTLE WOMEN and in DIAL M FOR MURDER. I would predict a Jeff nomination for this talented actress in this challenging, soul-searching character who never leaves the stage.

In Georgette Verdin’s capable hands, this exceptional production of Amy Herzog’s autobiographical drama, MARY JANE makes for a very compelling story. The story is heartbreaking while still being hopeful. Theatergoers should be warned, however, that the ending of the play is vague and open to interpretation. But this  is a powerful and realistic work of art that examines a parent’s devotion and helplessness, especially as aided by a devoted community of other caregivers. The play illustrates the stress and strain of coping with a terminally ill child. And although there’s no easy solution, in the end, with the catharsis this play offers, the difficult journey is well worth the ride.   

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented January 22-February 22 by by Northlight Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL.

Tickets are available in person at the North Shore box office, by calling 847-673-6300 or by going to www.northlight.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.