"A flawless production…In one of the best performances of the new season thus far, Ms. Coon tries to maintain a facade of ease over an almost unbearable inner tension, tirelessly coping with her fate and hoping against hope...Each scene flows seamlessly into the next with a slow and even pacing that captures the audience. You know you are doing something right when even the smallest of laugh lines results in tension-releasing guffaws…The supporting cast, all in dual roles, also shine.”
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"Mary Jane is exquisitely portrayed by Carrie Coon....It’s a beautiful crafted construction...It’s clear the playwright understands this topic from a deep emotional and raw place, that causes the anguish to echo throughout the theatre. We give our heart over to Mary Jane, completely without question. The ending is complex, surprising, yet authentic, and we embrace a sense of clarity that comes from the unclear connection to peace and understanding. "
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"Herzog’s poignant new play, 'Mary Jane,' is timely...This is a heavy play with little respite from grim reality, except for some truly funny one-liners. Some rather over-detailed exposition in the writing and slightly fussy and fiddly direction from Kauffman can give the impression that this is a fly-on-the wall documentary film rather than a play...Will resonate with anyone who has ever had to deal with a medical crisis."
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"Jellinek’s set design here is closed in, cramped, claustrophobic – much like Mary Jane’s psyche...Coon’s multilayered performance counterpoints the rich layers of Herzog’s script which, under Kauffman’s razor-sharp direction, are peeled back with sensitivity and grace...Mary Jane experiences the breadth and depth of transcendence and catharsis at the play’s end in a scene rich in magical realism immersed in blessed redemptive release."
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"A series of casual, seemingly random conversations, interrupted by emergencies of greater or lesser severity...'Mary Jane' requires patience–more patience than some theatergoers might be able to muster. Mary Jane slowly reveals more about her life, her child and her hardship as the play progresses, and we gradually come to understand just how much it takes for her to remain both diligent and hopeful...There is great skill on display in the five-member cast."
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"An intelligent yet understated work that nonetheless almost blunts its own power...When Alex is rushed to the hospital, the story gains some urgency. Mary Jane begins to transform, and we finally see the pain and anger...There are no easy answers to be had, no deep revelations. In the end, Herzog leaves us with a delicate understanding that life, whether we are the mother of a sick child, a struggling college student or an overworked employee, is what we choose to make of it."
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"Amy Herzog's affecting play…reminds us that ordinary people can be saints and that religion has nothing to do with it…The…dramatis personae obviously has a feminist slant but that doesn't prevent the play from being an engagingly moving portrait of a particular mother's travails. Herzog's generally naturalistic dramaturgy sometimes seeps into theatrical contrivance…but it remains consistently involving and occasionally eye-moistening…The acting…is thankfully restrained and fully believable."
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“Compact but wondrous...The focus is on his ultracompetent single mother, Mary Jane, played with crystalline, almost scary serenity by Carrie Coon...The writer’s mix of sympathy and showmanship is gorgeously ruthless...Kauffman’s clear-eyed production balances cool distance and precisely deployed humor and warmth to ratchet up the tension and stakes. Neither play nor staging pander to base desires for cathartic tears or medical miracles...An exquisite, bracing drama.”
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