Writer & Performer
Mary grew up in Vermont and still carries the love of nature, resilience, kindness, curiosity, and sense of whimsy that living in those mountains imprinted on her heart. She left Vermont to earn her BA at Sarah Lawrence College, then moved to New York City where she was a professional actor for nearly a decade, during which she appeared in numerous film, television, stage, radio, and opera productions in New York City and throughout the United States. Some representative roles include the receptionist opposite Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Naomi in Simon with Alan Arkin, Abbey in The Impossible Years with Ted Knight, Popham in The Magistrate with John Cullum, the original Mona off-Broadway in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean with Fannie Flagg, and creating the role of Mandy in the musical I Can’t Keep Running in Place, starring Marcia Rodd and Helen Gallagher, which ran for a year off-Broadway at Westside Theatre.
While in New York, Mary co-founded “Life Adventures Onstage” to reach at-risk inner-city children and young students with disabilities by creating original scripts from the children’s real-life stories and producing weekly mini plays for invited audiences. One of the most successful sessions was conducted for children with hearing impairment and deafness. She also worked as a freelance writer creating marketing and promotional materials for clients that included Recordings for the Blind, Project Hope, New York Public Library, Central Park Conservancy, Fresh Air Fund, and Pete Seeger’s environmental action sloop the “Clearwater.”
After moving to Tennessee, Mary’s main focus has been writing plays. Recent world premieres are: The Sound of Light at Fusion Theater in Albuquerque, NM (2026), Shanktown, at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, TN (2022), Party of Twelve, at the Washington Theatre in Murfreesboro, TN (2022), and To Know You, at the Clayton Center for the Arts in Maryville, TN (2019). Over the past several years Mary’s plays have also been produced in California, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, and Texas. Her most recent play, The Cord, explores the sacred connections between humans and nature and was supported in part by the Puffin Foundation and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She was invited to participate in the prestigious Sewanee Writers’ Conference in July 2026 and enjoyed the mentorship of playwrights Lauren Yee and Anne Washburn as she began developing her latest play, Painting with Scissors, an exploration of the power of art as seen through a magical meeting between the late artist Henri Matisse who became known for cutting collages when he was too ill to paint, and a contemporary young woman in crisis who self-harms to cope.
Mary’s plays have been published in the HuMed Journal, 2024, Ponder Review, 2020 and 2024, Smith and Kraus’ Best Women’s Stage Monologues of 2023, and Qu Literary Magazine, 2025.
