Navigation

“Painting Churches” Premieres on Washington Island

(Left) Laurie Seebart plays Mags Church, an artist and the daughter of poet Gardner Church played by Ham Rutledge and the outspoken yet vulnerable Fanny Church played by Joyce Morehouse.

Painting Churches, the winter 2010 production of Island Players, will be presented on Washington Island on the weekend of February 19 to 21. Three performances will occur at Fellowship Hall, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Town Line Road, on Friday and Saturday at 7 pm and on Sunday at 2 pm.

 

 

Painting Churches is a play with three characters – Margaret Church and her parents, Fanny Sedgwick Church and Gardner Church – and it’s a play about family relationships. The play is set in the Church’s grand Boston townhouse, where they are packing up a lifetime of possessions so that they can retire to their summer house on Cape Cod. Their daughter is visiting from New York to help them move. She’s an artist and is also painting their portrait.

 

 

Figuring prominently in the play is the portrait Mags is working on. Island artist John Davies created a portrait especially for this production, a portrait that will be under wraps until the show opens.

 

 

“This portrait is actually kind of a punch line in the play,” said Davies. “We have to remember the era when Mags was painting – it’s the 1950s and 1960s – and she was involved in the New York art scene.”

 

 

The cast includes Joyce Morehouse as Fanny, Ham Rutledge as Gardner, and Laurie Seebart as Mags. Seebart is also the director of the production, and Charlotte Manning is assistant director. Joyce Morehouse is the producer.

 

 

Jim Young, an architect, designed the set of three soaring windows to fit perfectly into the performance space, taking advantage of its cathedral ceiling. Terry Henkel, John Chapman, and Bob Wagner are doing the construction. Emmett Woods is overall technical director, Alyssa Mann and Tate Remke are designing the lighting, Jerry Maiers is doing sound, and Cooper Henkel is stage manager. Barb Hanlin, Linda Henkel, and Mary Smith located props, and Peg Nikolai, Jackie Rader, and Judie Yamamoto made up the costume team.

 

 

Tickets are available in advance at the Red Cup and the Rec Center; the cost is $12 for adults and $6 for students (through age 18). Tickets will also be available at the door.