Crazy Mary is a play by A.R. Gurney (The Dining Room; Mrs. Farnsworth; The Cocktail Hour) that had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in New York City from May 11-June 26, 2007, with actors Sigourney Weaver (Aliens; Working Girl; Gorillas in the Mist) and Kristine Nielsen (Miss Witherspoon;, Our Leading Lady). Scenic Design was by John Lee Beatty (The Color Purple; Chicago; Talley's Folly). Costume Design was by Claudia Brown (Blue in the Face; Psych). Lighting Design was by Brian Aldous (Mrs. Farnsworth; Blue Man Group: Tubes). Sound Design was by Jill BC DuBoff. Production Stage Manager was Janet Takami. The play is directed by Jim Simpson (Mrs. Farnsworth; Psych) and took place on PH's Mainstage Theater.
Crazy Mary concerns the scion of a wealthy Buffalo, New York clan and her willful, college-aged son who, in an attempt to account for the family inheritance, visit their long lost cousin Mary. The catch: Mary is living in an asylum, and has barely spoken in years, forcing mother and son to employ radical ends to get through. The play premiered on May 11, 2007 to sellout crowds, and the run was extended a week past its initial scheduled closure.
Reviews were lukewarm. The play has since been performed in community theaters in Florida and elsewhere.
Famous quotes containing the words crazy and/or mary:
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.... Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.”
—Joseph Heller (b. 1923)
“The first general store opened on the ‘Cold Saturday’ of the winter of 1833 ... Mrs. Mary Miller, daughter of the store’s promoter, recorded in a letter: ‘Chickens and birds fell dead from their roosts, cows ran bellowing through the streets’; but she failed to state what effect the freeze had on the gala occasion of the store opening.”
—Administration in the State of Sout, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)