Marin Theatre Company Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis posits this dilemma at the heart of Mother of the Maid, written by Marin playwright Jane Anderson and directed by Minadakis. Mother of the Maid reimagines Joan of Arc’s epic tale through the eyes of her mother, Isabelle Arc, a sensible, hard-working, God-fearing woman in the fifteenth century whose daughter communes with Saint Catherine, dons men’s clothing and prepares to lead the French army into battle.
Isabelle follows the baffling journey of her odd and extraordinary daughter with a mother’s loving persistence – facing her own upended fears and faith along the way. History may remember Joan of Arc as a patron saint, armed heroine, and deft political thinker—but her mother remembers things quite differently.
“Mother of the Maid is one of those rare plays that gets to the heart of what it is to have a child and know they are extraordinary, yet struggle to understand that child,” Minadakis adds. “Many caregivers will be able to relate to what it means for Isabelle and Jacques Arc to have a child who they can’t quite understand, but whom they know they need to support; even when that support may put their child’s life in danger.”
This “robustly sentimental,” (New York Times) “quietly piercing, luminous new play” (New York Stage Review) finished its Broadway run—starring the inimitable Glenn Close—with critical acclaim.
“Marin is where my heart is, it’s where I go to soothe my soul,” says Anderson, an Emmy award-winning writer and director for theatre, film and television whose screenwriting credits include The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio, starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson, which she also directed, as well as HBO’s Olive Kitteridge, starring Frances McDormand for which she received an Emmy Award for best teleplay and limited series, a Writers Guild Award for best teleplay and nominated for a Golden Globe for best limited series.
“I’m so glad that this very raw and personal piece of me is getting a home on the MTC stage,” she adds.
The 411: Marin Theatre Company‘s production of Mother of the Maid opens Nov. 14, and runs through Dec. 8. 397 Miller Ave. Tix $25-$70. MORE INFO & TIX.