FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Leigh Allen, Marketing Director
(937) 461-3823, ext. 3112

PAINTING CHURCHES TO COLOR THE LOFT

DAYTON, OH - April 4 - The Churches are taking leave of their sanctuary. Gardner and Fanny Church have to leave their Boston home and move to a Cape Cod cottage, and daughter Mags, a rising artist, comes home to help them pack and to try to get her parents to pose for a portrait.

That’s the scenario for The Human Race Theatre Company production of Painting Churches, which will be presented at The Loft Theatre in downtown Dayton April 19 – May 6.

What emerges in Tina Howe’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated play is an unexpected figurative family portrait – a comic drama that is in turn heartwarming and heartbreaking, as the family struggles to cope with the vagaries of age. It is a play particularly pertinent for people themselves dealing with issues of aging.

Gardner Church, by birth an uppercrust Bostonian, is a renowned poet, but his mind has begun shifting from The Lighthouse to The Waste Land. Fanny is desperately trying to cope with the fact her husband is going gently into that good night, and is sometimes at a loss on how to handle his mental fade. And Mags wanders into a situation she had no idea existed.

Painting Churches was written a generation ago, before “Alzheimer’s” became a household word, but Howe (Coastal Disturbances, Pride’s Crossing) manages to capture both the sadness of the decline and the humor and love with which a family copes.

Painting Churches is directed by Margarett Perry, a personal friend of Howe. Perry directed The Retreat from Moscow at The Human Race in 2005. She has numerous Off Broadway and regional credits, and has served as a Drama League of New York Directing Fellow.

Evan Thompson, who plays Gardner, won a DayTony for his performance as Niels Bohr in the 2005 HRTC production of Copenhagen. Thompson’s vast experience includes Ivanov and An American Daughter at Lincoln Center, 66 roles at The River Rep in Connecticut, of which he is a founding member, and a feature role in Big Doolie, a big hit at the 2006 NY Fringe Festival.

Kathleen Butler, who plays Fanny, is new to The Human Race but not to acting – she has been on stage since 1962, except for a 17-year hiatus to raise her daughters. Butler has enjoyed a strong professional relationship with Edward Albee, appearing in several Albee plays, including the World Premiere of Three Tall Women. Moviegoers will recognize Butler as the elder Kit in A League of Their Own.

Jessma Butler, who plays Mags, is also new to The Loft. The NYU Tisch School of the Arts graduate was recently in the Off Broadway production of The Deepest Play Ever, and is co-creating and performing Single, which will debut in New York in the fall.

Tickets to Painting Churches are $15.50 to $34, available at www.ticketcenterstage.com, by calling 1-888-228-3630, or at the box offices at the Schuster Center and Victoria Theatre. Special events include the Pay What You Can pre-preview April 19, with food and cash donations for local charities; a sign-interpreted/audio-described performance April 28; the While We’re on the Subject talkback after the April 29 matinee; and Lite Fare at The Loft pre-show munchies May 1.

Loft 2 Series Sponsors are NCR, the Sam Levin Foundation, Jim and Enid Goubeaux, the Double Tree Hotel, and WYSO. Painting Churches sponsors are Reynolds and Reynolds; St. Clair Lofts; McGohan Brabender, Inc.; Larry S. Glickler, Bradford-Connelly & Glickler Funeral Home; Mrs. Wallace E. Johnson; and White-Allen.

Many media opportunities are available. Interested reporters/producers should contact Leigh Allan at 937-461-3823 ext. 3112 or leigh@humanracetheatre.org.

###

Founded in 1986, The Human Race Theatre Company presents universal themes that explore the human condition and startle us all into a renewed awareness of ourselves. The company moved to the Metropolitan Arts Center in 1991, taking up residence at The Loft, a 219-seat theatre. In addition to the Loft Series (in collaboration with the Victoria Theatre Association) The Human Race produces for the Fifth Third Broadway Series, the Musical Theatre Workshop series, and special event programming. The Human Race, under the direction of Artistic Director Marsha Hanna and Executive Director Kevin Moore, also maintains educational outreach programs for children and adults, guest artists and artist residencies in area schools, The Muse Machine In-School Tour, Youth Summer Stock and The Human Race Conservatory. The new Caryl D. Philips Creativity Center of The Human Race opened in January 2006 to provide a space for extensive theatre education classes and workshops.