Mary Frances has lived a good life; she’s ninety years old and ready to die. Born to refugees fleeing the Armenian genocide, her last wish is to die peacefully at home surrounded by her family. Her dream collides with reality as three generations of explosive women flood her small New England home to battle for their family’s legacy. Mary Frances must navigate the volatile relationships of the children she raised — or die trying. Lois Smith stars as a tenacious survivor, struggling to break the bonds that tie her to this life. Directed by Lila Neugebauer, Lily Thorne’s Peace for Mary Frances is a wrenching and caustically funny portrait of an American family in crisis.

I would pay to see any production that features 87-year-old actress Lois Smith, even if she were only reading the telephone book. In her latest role, Smith plays 90-year-old Mary Frances who, having lived a long good life, is now ready to die, surrounded by her family.  The representatives from hospice explain the medical process: the purpose of the medicine is to keep her pain-free, not to prolong her life. Yet her dying is not peaceful with the volatile interactions of her children, Franny (Johanna Day), Michael (Brian Miskell), and Alice (J. Smith-Cameron). The ‘children’ immediately assume the familial roles they always played, and Mary Frances somewhat encourages it.  She pays Alice to care for her and then watches the receipts and takes the credit card away, accusing her of overspending. In secret, she tells Franny, her ex-junkie daughter, that she always loved her better than the other two children. Michael, trying to get his mother’s affairs in order, is so inept his dying mother has to take charge. Add to the mix the presence of Alice’s two daughters, Helen (Heather Burns), a television actress, and Rosie, a new mother. Instead of bringing calm to the situation, the younge …Read more