Mary

by Michael McGrinder

For the first time ever: Mary, the mother of Jesus, is portrayed as a human being. The gospels pay Mary scant attention while her husband Joseph seems to exist merely to legitimize Jesus' birth. Mary has been called the Queen of Heaven, but life on this mortal coil is not lived wearing a halo. What of the holy family's everyday life?

In this compelling story, Michael McGrinder draws from gospels canonical and apocryphal in addition to many contemporaneous sources to place Mary at the center of her own narrative. The story of Jesus' nativity is honored as is the oft-suppressed fact that Mary was the mother of several other children. And a boldly charismatic Joseph comes alive here, rugged and handsome with a bit of a temper and a brash sense of humor.

Mary is followed from her own conception through her life at the Temple, her betrothal and her family life with all the iconic moments sharing time with the mundane. Here is the extraordinary story of the brave, gentle and loving woman who became the mother of the most famous person ever to have lived.

65 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 13, 2016

About the author

I spent much of my adult life writing and directing plays, but there is no option for drama or plays or theatre in the genre section of author’s biography. I was lucky enough to be part of the generation that created Off-Off-Broadway, now often referred to as Off-Off’s Golden Years. It was a wonderful time and I am now writing a memoir about it, One Hell of a Past. I am also publishing my plays via amazon and smashwords. Under the aegis of The Old Reliable Press oldreliablepress.com, I publish plays from early Off-Off that are in danger of being lost to us forever.

I grew up in the rough and tumble South Bronx section of New York City. I spent my early twenties in England enjoying a vital poetry scene and acquiring a taste for and an interest in theatre. Returning to New York, I lived on the Lower East Side and quickly became involved in the developing Off-Off-Broadway scene, so new at the time it was generally referred to as café theatre.

My first production, a double-bill of one-act plays, was given life at The Playwrights Workshop. I then began showing my work at the legendary Old Reliable Theatre Tavern, located in the funky back room of a Polish bar in a dangerous section of the East Village. “It’s easy to find. Just turn left at the burning automobile,” and “No wonder we get such good crowds. Everyone’s afraid to come here alone.” My plays were also produced at such leading theaters as La Mama, Bastiano’s Cellar, The Playbox Studio and at The Library Theatre of Lincoln Center.

I published Proscenium, a newsletter which The Village Voice described as “Off-Off talking to itself.” I also hosted a weekly cable TV show of the same name presenting excerpts from Off-Off shows and interviews with the production’s writer, director and actors. The show was later rechristened Michael McGrinder Presents to allow for an expanded format.

Along with artists Judy Pendleton and Helen Lau, I was a founding member of Artists Rights Association, an organization devoted to securing reproduction rights and royalties for artists as well as encouraging artists to use copyright symbols on their work.

My plays have been published by The Smith, Breakthrough Press and Dramatics Magazine and by And/Or Books. I am included in The Off-Off Broadway Book and, more recently, in Primary StagesOff-Broadway Oral History Project, and in The Downtown Pop Underground.

My personal website is michaelmcgrinder.com