'Painting Churches' Opens at Stage 3 Theatre Company

The Churches are definitely not your ordinary family. In fact, you could say they give new meaning to the word "eccentric". In this wonderful comic drama, opening at Stage 3 Theatre Company on Friday, January 24, daughter Margaret, painter on the brink of fame , arrives to help her flaky, hat-sporting mother and absent-minded father move out of the family homestead. As the boxes are packed, old memories are re-awakened and this unlikely trio comes to grips with their past, present and future. What emerges is a family portrait (literally and figuratively) that is zany, heartwarming, heartbreaking and true.

With Tina Howe's "Painting Churches", Stage 3 continues its tradition of presenting the finest work of the American Stage. Start with a brilliantly written script that ranges from utter slapstick hilarity to touching emotional clarity, take some of the finest actors of the region and challenge them to their limits and give its audience an evening of theatre that is hilarious, exhilarating and moving.

Time Magazine called the play, "radiant, loving and zestfully humorous" and The Wall Street Journal called Howe "one of our most incisive and original dramatists." Playwright Howe has garnered international acclaim for her work which has won Obie and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards. She has also been nominated for the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Says director Don Bilotti "This play says something real about aging parents and their adult children in a funny, original way. It is a marvelous combination of various types of comedy and subtle, powerful drama. It demands three actors with tremendous dramatic skills and impeccable comic chops. Our cast is absolutely brilliant and fearless. It is my honor to work with them."

"Painting Churches" reunites a theatrical team beloved by local audiences...

Bette Laws-LeFevre, who is making her final stage appearance, plays Fanny, the indomitable and wacky matriarch of the Church family. Her stage career has spanned decades and, since moving to the Mother Lode some years ago, she has become a mainstay of the thriving theatre scene. At Stage 3 she has starred in "Three Tall Women", "Ballad Hunter", "A Short Stay at Carranor", "Foxfire" and "Wit".

Doug Scott portrays Gardener Church, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who is now at the end of his career and doddering into senility. After entertaining millions as part of the Dapper Dan Barbershop Quartet at Disneyland, Doug retired to the Mother Lode and has made a name for himself in such plays as "A Short Stay at Carranor", "Foxfire", "Inspecting Carol" and "Mere Mortals".

Maryann Curmi is Margaret, the daughter who proves you can go home again but only if you bring your sense of humor. Curmi has starred in many productions at Stage 3 with roles ranging from a mysterious survivor of the Titanic in "Scotland Road" to a ditzy mayfly in "Mere Mortals". She has also become one of the area's most accomplished directors.

Director Don Bilotti has staged some of Stage 3's most memorable shows including "Inspecting Carol", "Mere Mortals" and, most recently, "The Lion in Winter".