Crazy Mary
- Written by A.R. Gurney
- Directed by Jim Simpson
Plays: SCENES FROM AMERICAN LIFE, CHILDREN, THE DINING ROOM, THE MIDDLE AGES, RICHARD CORY, THE GOLDEN AGE, WHAT I DID LAST SUMMER, THE WAYSIDE MOTOR INN, SWEET SUE, THE PERFECT PARTY, ANOTHER ANTIGONE, THE COCKTAIL HOUR, LOVE LETTERS, THE SNOW BALL (adapted from his novel), THE OLD BOY, THE FOURTH WALL, LATER LIFE, A CHEEVER EVENING, SYLVIA, OVERTIME, LET'S DO IT (a Cole Porter musical), LABOR DAY, FAR EAST, DARLENE AND THE GUEST LECTURER, ANCESTRAL VOICES, BUFFALO GAL, O JERUSALEM, STRICTLY ACADEMIC, BIG BILL, MRS. FARNSWORTH. Opera: Wrote libretto for "Strawberry Fields" with music by Michael Torke, part of the Central Park Opera trilogy presented by the New York City Opera in the Fall of 1999. Novels: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOE, ENTERTAINING STRANGERS and THE SNOW BALL. Awards: Drama Desk, N.E.A., Rockefeller Foundation, New England Theatre Conference, Lucille Lortel, American Association of Community Theatres, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Honorary degrees: Williams College and Buffalo State University. Gurney was on the faculty of M.I.T. until 1996. He is the husband of one, father of four, and grandfather of eight. (2012)
JIM SIMPSON is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Flea Theater (2004 Drama Desk cited for Downtown Adventurous Theater). Two-time OBIE-award winner, 2002 National Board of Review Excellence in Filmmaking, and cited for artistic leadership in Downtown New York by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2002. Jim has directed over 70 works for the theater and has also directed for film and television. Venues include nine seasons at the Williamstown Theater Festival, Alley Theater, Hartford Stage, Yale Rep, Actor's Theater of Louisville, Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, EST, CSC, MCC, the London International Theater Festival and the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Jim was a child actor in his hometown of Honolulu, as a teenager worked with Jerzy Grotowski in Poland, and holds degrees from Boston University School for the Arts, and the Yale Drama School. Most recently, Jim directed A. R. Gurney's Crazy Mary at Playwrights Horizons, Will Eno's Oh, The Humanity..., the revival of Peter Handke's Offending The Audience, Addison's CATO, Thomas Bradshaw's Dawn, Gurney's A Light Lunch, Will Eno's UNUM as part of The Flea's The Great Recession, Jonathan Reynolds' Girls in Trouble, and Bathsheba Doran's Parents' Evening. (Oct 2010)
In an attempt to account for the family inheritance, the scion of a wealthy Buffalo, NY clan and her willful, college-aged son visit their long lost cousin Mary. The catch: Mary is living in an asylum for the wealthy insane, and has barely spoken in years, forcing mother and son to employ radical ends to get through.
Featuring
Michael Esper
Mitchell Greenberg
Kristine Nielsen
Myra Lucretia Taylor
Sigourney Weaver
Broadway: American Idiot, A Man for All Seasons. Other New York credits: The Lyons, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, The Four of Us, Crazy Mary, subUrbia, As You Like It, The Agony and the Agony, Manic Flight Reaction, Big Bill. Regional theatre: The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures; Long Day’s Journey Into Night; Me, Myself and I. Film and TV: All Good Things, A Beautiful Mind, Bittersweet Place, Loggerheads, “Bunker Hill,” “Law & Order.” Clarence Derwent Award recipient. (As of February 2012)
Playwrights: Gus and Al, Betty’s Summer Vacation, Miss Witherspoon, Crazy Mary, Hir. WP Theater debut. Broadway: Gary, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, Present Laughter, and You Can’t Take It with You, among others. Nielsen has performed in numerous Off Broadway and regional theater productions, and has appeared on many TV series. She is currently in HBO’s The Gilded Age and just finished shooting Coup!, an independent film.
Playwrights Horizons: A Cool Dip…, Crazy Mary, Fabulation. Broadway: Nine, Macbeth, Electra, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Mule Bone, A Streetcar Named Desire. National tour: Wicked. Off-Broadway: Informed Consent; Bethany; The Little Foxes; Love, Loss, and What I Wore; Force Continuum; The American Clock; The Colored Museum. London: RSC. Film: Unfaithful, Everyone Says I Love You. TV: “Girls,” “The Big C.”
Creative Team
John Lee Beatty
Scenic DesignerClaudia Brown
Costume DesignerBrian Aldous
Lighting DesignerJill B.C. DuBoff
Sound DesignerJanet Takami
Production Stage Manager
Photos of (1) Mitchell Greenberg, Kristine Nielsen, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Michael Esper, and Sigourney Weaver; (2) Kristine Nielsen and Myra Lucretia Taylor; (3) Michael Esper and Sigourney Weaver; and (4) Sigourney Weaver and Kristine Nielsen by Joan Marcus.
VINTAGE GURNEY! SIGOURNEY WEAVER and KRISTINE NIELSEN serve their specialties with such gusto in CRAZY MARY, which features a breakout performance by the young MICHAEL ESPER. MS. WEAVER is expert in melding the airs of arrogance and apology while MS. NIELSEN touchingly signals the fear in her signature wild-eyed persona.
WONDERFUL STUFF. SIGOURNEY WEAVER gives a priceless performance.
DELECTABLY ENTERTAINING. A CERTIFIABLE FUN TIME. A.R. Gurney has created five rich and juicy characters and all are played wonderfully under director JIM SIMPSON.
KRISTINE NIELSEN delivers an affecting TOUR-DE-FORCE.