Family gatherings are rarely peaceful, especially when a family is gathering to say goodbye to a dying parent. In Peace for Mary Frances, a new play by new playwright Lily Thorne, the tumult begins as 90-year-old Mary Frances announces that she is ready to die and will no longer take any measures to extend her life. As the family gathers to say goodbye to the matriarch, old rivalries flare up and arguments ensue—and everyone seems to have an agenda behind his or her words and deeds. Lily Thorne’s ambitious script is very detailed in its depiction of hospice care—almost a

Cardinal Second Stage Snapshot Review: Never Makes Any Real Impression Jena Tesse Fox, Reviewer Cardinal, which opened last week at Second Stage, never seems quite sure of what it is supposed to be: If it’s a black comedy, there aren’t a lot of laughs. If it’s a drama, it’s not a particularly emotional one. The story could be compelling, and it raises some interesting issues, but Greg Pierce’s script is so thin that it never makes any real impression. The story, such as it is, follows a young woman’s return to her upstate New York hometown, where she pitches an idea to the mayor