Amy Herzog Touches on Sensitive Medical Mysteries 

by Philippa Kelly

“Mary Jane,” by the Actors’ Reading Collective at Magic Theatre, asks some tough questions: How do we care for society’s most vulnerable when the last drops of resilience have been wrung from exhausted parents and medical staff? How do caregivers climb an ever-higher mountain when the ground is caving beneath their feet?

By activating the profound layers in Amy Herzog’s script and highlighting its glimmering moments of humor, director Amy Kossow delivers a powerful impact. I was riveted by the production, and I thoroughly recommend it. In Kossow’s hands, this orchestral marvel starts dark and gets darker, and yet we find ourselves laughing in the most surprising ways.

In her director’s note, Kossow, speaking from personal experience, talks of “the war that must be waged” to preserve and develop a fragile life. “Mary Jane” takes us into this battle, amidst the beeping and whirring of medical noises—thanks to Cliff Carruthers’ brilliantly economical sound design.

As Mary Jane, Lisa Morse makes the mother’s heartbreak very real. The life of Alex, her two-and-a-half-year-old son, is increasingly precarious. Alex’s birth at 25 weeks was too difficult for his father, and Mary Jane has been raising her son alone. With dignity, equanimity, and irresistible humor, she draws us into her daily struggle to save her child.

During Alex’s treatment, Mary Jane interacts with characters who illuminate her psyche. She finds a friend in her building supervisor (magnificent Leontyne Mbele-Mbong) who urges self-care. Mbele-Mbong later segues into a dignified hospital chaplain, recently ordained as a Buddhist nun.

Stacy Ross shows phenomenal range and specificity in her roles as a home-care nurse and a doctor struggling to get Mary Jane to face an inescapable truth.

Then there’s the new mother of another medically challenged child, with whom Mary Jane gets to play the seasoned warrior, and the Hasidic mother of a hospitalized child (both companionate mothers skillfully individualized by Danielle Levin).

Rising star Anna Takayo is both a young, naïve student and a hospital music therapist, by turns infuriating and adorably ditsy. And then there’s the goldfish, Gloria – well, I’ll leave you to discover how Gloria connects with Mary Jane.

In considering the complex questions that confront us in this play, there is a huge, shadowy question hovering in spare, oblique remarks buried in conversations. Should a life that’s so compromised be compelled to continue? Would it be merciful to allow release?

Mary Jane says, “I don’t know what to hope for.” It’s not just Alex who’s caught in the prison of his bird-like body; his mother, too, becomes wholly defined by her son’s needs. She has lost her marriage, her health, and eventually her job.

Faced with the question “At what point do you pull back?” I have no idea of my own answer.

Long after this powerful play is over, you may find yourself still wondering as well.  Mary Jane’s dire situation proves to be completely engaging, frequently funny, and profoundly moving.

“Mary Jane” by Amy Herzog, directed by Amy Kossow, by The Actors’ Reading Collective, at Magic Theatre, Fort Mason, San Francisco.

Info: arcstream.org – to November 30, 2025.

Cast: Danielle Levin, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Lisa Morse, Stacy Ross, and Anna Takayo.