Mary McDonnell Vault is your online resource dedicated to actress Mary McDonnell. You better know Mary for her role as Captain Sharon Raydor for the TNT crime series The Closer & Major Crimes, Not to forget one of her most important and intense roles, as President of the Universe Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica. A prolofic actress in TV like in Cinema, with roles in movies such as Independence Day, Donnie Darko, Dances with Wolves, Sneakers, Mumford, Passion Fish and many others. Site is comprehensive of a big photogallery with events, photoshoots, magazines, stills, an extensive press library to collect all the articles and interviews on her and a video gallery section for recorded interviews, sneak peeks and trailers of her projects. We claim no rights to know her personally and it's absolutely respectful of her privacy and paparazzi-free!!!

Buried Child

Production Info

Character: Shelly

Directed by: Robert Woodruff

Written by: Sam Shepard

Produced by: Circle Repertory Company

Cast Members: Jacqueline Brookes, William M. Carr, Christopher McCann, Tom Noonan, Edward Seamon, Bill Wiley

Language(s): English

Venue: Theater de Lys

Production Dates: October 19, 1978 – April 15, 1979

Genre: Drama

Dodge and Halie are barely hanging on to their farmland and their sanity while looking after their two wayward grown sons Tilden and Bradley. When their grandson Vince arrives with his girlfriend Shelly, no one seems to recognize him, and confusion abounds. As Vince tries to make sense of the chaos, the rest of the family dances around a deep, dark secret.
Additional Info

In Mary’s Memories…

In the rehearsal process of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child in New York, right before we opened, the director turned to all of us and said I want you to go out there and try some new things, don’t be afraid to make a mistake just because it’s your opening. It was an extraordinarily freeing concept, we all responded and did some of our very best work. I’ve kept that close to me during moments of extreme pressure. It is a great reminder that the point is to come out and offer your creativity freely and surprise the audience and hopefully surprise yourself. [from Reddit Chat]

Reviews

I remember vividly first seeing her in Sam Shepard’s Buried Child as Shelley, the giggly, hippie-chick girlfriend of the youngest son; the only character onstage not part of the family circle, she seemed literally to be acting at a different speed from the others, a walking 45 in a roomful of long-playing records. The performance had such a distinctive rhythm that it seemed ingrained, a quality McDonnell would be hired to demonstrate again and again.Don Shewey

Other Performances

• She played in another theater, Circle Theatre, in New York from June 20 to September 29, 1979. Check the link on Lortel Archives.

Script developed by Never Enough Design