The Body of Mary: A Play in Three Acts (of God)

It’s an important and distressingly timely subject matter: tackling how women’s bodies and reproductive rights have been colonized and controlled by the patriarchy since the literal Birth of Jesus. Presented through three separate vignettes, one biblical, then near-future, and finally right now. Each scene centers on a “Mary” and all three are played stunningly by Annalisa D’Aguilar as Mary of Nazareth, Tracy Sallows as Mother Mary Joseph, and Gracie Conn as Mary of Nazareth, Texas, respectively. But each scene drags on longer than it needs to, and the points being made are quite clear (to the point of heavy handed) from minutes in. There’s not quite enough material and development in these three moments to craft a full evening, but it’s stretched to create one. It’s all a little on the nose, very literal and bordering on obvious. But it’s highlighting a decades-old discussion and perspective that still needs to be shouted: a woman’s choices about her body, and especially her uterus, should be hers and hers alone to govern.