The play opens with Mary, aged 40, telling her children that she is divorcing their father and moving from Dayton, Ohio, to Kentucky.
[1] Mary Page Marlowe premiered in April 2016 at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre.
Mary was played in the original production by Caroline Heffernan (age 12), Annie Munch (19), Carrie Coon (27, 36), Rebecca Spence (40, 44), Laura T. Fisher (50), and Blair Brown (59, 63, 69).
In previews the infant Mary was played by three actual babies, but unease among the audience convinced director Anna D. Shapiro that using a doll would be less distracting.
[3][4] Other members of the cast included Audrey Corsa,[5] Grace Gummer, Brian Kerwin, and Gary Wilmes.