Dear Friends,

Welcome to Seattle Rep and the Seattle-made premiere of Mary Jane by Amy Herzog, the sixth production of our 2025/26 Season. Mary Jane follows a young mother caring for her chronically ill son, Alex, tracing the relationships, routines, and communities that emerge around caregiving, endurance, and love under sustained pressure.

What makes this play remarkable (and I do consider Mary Jane to be among the great plays of the past decade) is the kind of theatrical magic it conjures. While the subject matter may seem challenging or distressing at first glance, Mary Jane leaves audiences nourished by the generous and affirming nature of human behavior. As Mary Jane cares for Alex, a quiet community of caregivers forms around them. Nurses, neighbors, friends, and strangers show up with humor, skill, patience, and presence. The play reminds us that care is rarely borne alone. Rather than leaving us diminished, the experience draws us closer, reinforcing our shared capacity for empathy and responsibility. We emerge more connected and quietly charged with the possibility of being more attentive, more generous, and more humane.

Mary Jane presents the demands placed on those who provide care and how surrounding systems often fail to support them, revealing the emotional and physical labor that frequently goes unseen. In bearing witness, we engage directly with timely questions about the American healthcare system, access to resources, and the uneven distribution of responsibility. Equally as important is the way the play considers how community forms in response to need, and how bonds are shaped through shared work, vulnerability, and reliance.

Since its premiere, Mary Jane has received wide national recognition, including celebrated Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, regional premieres, and award nominations. The play’s reception reflects the strength and consistency of Amy Herzog’s writing and her standing as one of the most significant American playwrights of her generation. Across original work and adaptations alike, she favors emotional accuracy, as language, structure, and performance carry meaning.

We are thrilled to once again welcome director Allison Narver to Seattle Rep, following last season’s supernatural comedy Blithe Spirit. Narver brings a deeply personal approach to this production, grounded in her own life experience and close collaboration with the actors. She understands that caregiving, even under extraordinary strain, is often sustained by humor, lightness, and moments of shared buoyancy. That understanding is woven throughout the production, which also reflects the depth of talent in Seattle’s theater scene. This cast includes many artists well known to Seattle audiences, whose shared history and trust support the play’s emphasis on relationship and collective experience.

As you experience Mary Jane, we invite you to look ahead to Seattle Rep’s upcoming 2026/27 Season announcement. Our new highly anticipated seven-show lineup celebrates the power of stories to shape who we are—from sharp comedies built on incisive observation to timely dramas, and the world premiere musical for all ages, Freak The Mighty, from the producers of Come From Away.

I hope to see you back soon for the final production of our current season, the incendiary Seattle premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate, beginning April 9 in the Bagley Wright Theater, as well as the return of our fall smash hit, The Play That Goes Wrong, in June.

Until next time,

Dámaso Rodríguez
Seattle Rep Artistic Director

See Mary Jane at Seattle Rep, playing March 19–April 19

Tickets »