Stage Coach Theater Performs Comic Drama: Painting Churches

Gardner and Fanny Church are preparing to move out of their Beacon Hill house to their summer cottage on Cape Cod. Gardner, once a famous poet, now is retired. He slips in and out of senility as his wife Fanny valiantly tries to keep them both afloat. They have asked their daughter, Mags, to come home and help them move. Mags agrees, for she hopes as well to finally paint their portrait. She is now on the verge of artistic celebrity herself and hopes, by painting her parents, to come to terms with them and they with her. Mags triumphs in the end as Fanny and Gardner actually step through the frame and become a work of art ineffable and timeless.

Such is the storyline of Painting Churches.

Written by Tina Howe and directed by Joseph Wright, this play will be performed at Boise's Stagecoach Theater on March 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15 and 16.
 
The New York Times called the play "beautifully written. . . . A theatrical family portrait that has the shimmer and depth of Renoir portraits."

Time magazine said it was:

"A radiant, loving and zestfully humorous play . . . distinctly Chekhovian. Howe captures the same edgy surface of false hilarity, the same unutterable sadness beneath it, and the indomitable valor beneath both."

Stage Coach Theatre has been producing plays for 32 consecutive seasons in the Treasure Valley.  The organization is dedicated to bringing quality contemporary live theatre that reflects and celebrates the human spirit for, by and accessible to the community.

For more information on Stagecoach Theater, check out their History page or see who is on the Board of Directors.

You can also browse the theater's  Masque Award winners from the 2011-2012 Season or check out their scholarship opportunities.

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