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Marjorie Prime
When Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime opened Off-Broadway in 2015, starring Lois Smith, it appealed as science fiction. Since then the use of various forms of artificial intelligence to support human behavior have become ubiquitous.
Reinforcing this new reality, Harrison and director Anne Kauffman dusted off the prescient family drama and shined it up for its Broadway premiere, with few changes to the script. Maintaining the prior production values, including the work by set designer Lee Jellinek, sound designer Daniel Kluger, and lighting designer Ben Stanton, Kauffman creates an almost surreal and static atmosphere where AI takes over the “ethos” of a family and exists for itself in the last scene.
The production runs at the Helen Hayes Theater with the superb cast of June Squibb, Cynthia Nixon, Danny Burstein and Christopher Lowell through February 15, 2026. They are the reason to see the revival.
On one level the excellent performances outshine the themes of Marjorie Prime, which deal with death, identity, the grieving process, artificial intelligence and more. The science fiction aspect of the play, so striking before, has diminished.
Harrison’s Conceit About AI Holograms Still Fascinates
Yet, Harrison’s conceit that AI holograms might be used to reconcile the death and loss of a loved one still fascinates a decade later. Our culture fights death and aging, emphasizing an ageless, youthful appearance regardless of chronological age. Some cultures have a healthier approach, accepting death and aging as a normal part of the life cycle. Still, with technological advancements, regardless of culture or country, AI will have its uses in confronting disease, dying, death and mourning.
The “Primes” in Marjorie Prime are images of loved ones captured at a particular time in their lives, created by the company Senior Serenity to help the bereaved get through their grief. Marjorie’s family believes a holographic duplicate of her husband Walter will help her adjust to his loss. The replica keeps her engaged. It’s sentient and interactive.
Walter Prime
Walter Prime (Christopher Lowell) duplicates the younger, good-looking Walter in his 30s. He reminds Marjorie of the Walter of the past, not her more recent sick and dying husband. The hologram’s programming and presence also help stir Marjorie’s memory, complicated by dementia. A work in progress, Walter Prime evolves based on the information that 85-year-old Marjorie (June Squibb), her daughter Tess (Cynthia Nixon), and son-in-law Jon (Danny Burstein) give him about Walter and Marjorie’s life together.
At the top of the play Walter Prime and Marjorie discuss movies they went to, like My Best Friend’s Wedding, which Marjorie has forgotten until Walter reminds her. The spry 96-year-old Squibb portrays the spicy, funny, chronologically younger woman with a failing memory, an irony that amused me to no end. Squibb is marvelous.
As Marjorie Fades, Walter Prime Evolves
As Marjorie’s identity and memory dim, Walter Prime builds up the identity of Walter with her help. However, Harrison’s play raises questions about this process and never answers them. For example, how much information has Walter Prime been fed prior to his engagement with the family? How can Marjorie be expected to keep track of information from their entire lives together if her memory fails? Won’t she feed him incorrect details?
Indeed, facts and details shift and Marjorie at times confuses the truth. An imagined past becomes easier to accept with an artificial “husband” who relies on others for details. This problem is never resolved. Nor does Tess fully accept Walter Prime’s function as a presence to stimulate Marjorie, despite Senior Serenity’s argument that a hologram keeps Marjorie more stimulated than TV.
How Useful Is Walter Prime?
Though the edgy Tess questions Walter Prime’s usefulness, the upbeat Jon thinks that he helps improve Marjorie’s engagement and memory. In fact Jon accuses Tess of jealousy. Does Marjorie prefer Walter over Tess, who must nag her mother to eat and to “obey” her in a reversal of the parent/child roles? Losing her autonomy, Marjorie must rely on Tess and Jon for her living arrangements and personal care, which rankles her.
As Jon, Marjorie and Tess converse in Jellick’s minimalist, living room/kitchen combination that lacks futuristic style, Walter Prime sits on a sofa in the living room. He waits in a listening mode, ready to interact when needed.
Primed for Action
Time jumps in intervals. Marjorie dies and her death is referenced in dialogue. Tess gives a heartbreaking speech about her mother, memory and imagination which sets up the rest of the play. Jon listens and responds with an uncanny authenticity. Cynthia Nixon and Danny Burstein are superb.
After another interval, through Jon’s conversation with Tess’s Prime we discover what transpired with Tess on a vacation. Though Harrison gives us enough of a setup that we’re not shocked, Burstein as Jon relates the emotional impact of what happened to Tess with heartfelt power.
Since the Primes “live” forever in holographic form until someone decommissions them, they occupy the home in the last scene. Jon is elsewhere, so Walter Prime, Marjorie Prime and Tess Prime converse among themselves, appreciating the identities and memories fed to them by the humans who loved them and helped them evolve into their ideal “beings.” Eerie perfection.
Marjorie Prime is at the Helen Hayes Theater on 44th Street until February 15, 2026.
