PAINTING CHURCHES Opens Tonight at The Studio

Theatre Artists Studio presents Tina Howe's Painting Churches from today, May 22 through June 7. Howe's play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Gardner and Fanny Church are moving out of their Beacon Hill house and into their summer cottage on Cape Cod. Gardner, once a famous poet, is now retired and fading. 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.

Painting Churches is directed by Studio Member Dolores D'Amore Goldsmith and features Members Patti Davis Suarez as Fanny and Dee Rich as Mags, along with guest artist Tony Hodges as Gardner. On playing Fanny Church, Suarez commented, "Fanny's a challenge. She's hilarious, heartbreaking, deep, shallow, loving, cruel, scattered, focused, mad and sane. Every actor's dream journey."

The New York Times calls Painting Churches "Beautifully written. . . . A theatrical family portrait that has the shimmer and depth of Renoir portraits," and Time magazine said it's "A radiant, loving and zestfully humorous play . . "

Theatre Artists Studio presents Painting Churches from May 22 through June 7 at The Studio, located two blocks east of Tatum Blvd., and just north of Cactus Road on Paradise Village Parkway East, on the west side of the street. Show times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm.

Tickets are $20 for General Admission; $10 for Students 25 & under and $15 for Groups of 10 or More, Seniors 65 & over & Members of the Military (active or retired). For tickets, call the box office at 602-765-0120 or visit www.thestudiophx.org.