Before writing Mary Jane, which premiered in 2017, the playwright Amy Herzog had read the autobiography of Dorothy Day, a social activist who became a nun. As she recently told Vogue, Day’s book inspired her to express “how women live so many lives in their one life.” At the time, Herzog was also caring for a daughter, who would die from nemaline myopathy, a rare muscle disorder, in 2023. The two-act play takes place between a small apartment in Queens and the hospital where Mary Jane’s toddler, Alex, undergoes treatment for cerebral palsy and other life-threatening conditions. Played by the actress Rachel McAdams—back onstage for the first time in 25 years—Mary Jane relies on optimism and the support of the women around her. “I think there’s a deficit out there in terms of disability consciousness,” says Herzog. “I want people to be more conscious of their fear about disability, about illness, about it clouding their ability to enter a story without the distancing sensation of pity.” —Jeanne Malle