Painting Churches
by Tina Howe
Theatre Exile, 1340-48 S 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
September 2 - 21, 2025
Directed by Tina Ann Brock and Peggy Mecham
Costume Design
Erica Hoelscher
Lighting Design
Eric Baker
Scenic Design
Dirk Durossette
Sound Design
Andrew Nelson
Technical Director/Set Build
Tony Clemente
Stage Management
Megan Coyle
Stage Crew
Mehki Williams and Bob Schmidt
Properties
Tina Ann Brock, Bob Schmidt, Avista Custom Theatricals, LLC.
Magic Lantern Lampshade and Fannie & Gardner’s Portrait
Erica Hoelscher
Producing Artistic Director
Tina Ann Brock
Production Manager
Bob Schmidt
Marketing/Public Relations
Tina Ann Brock
Photography
Johanna Austin / AustinArt.org
Postcard Design
Bill Brock
Painting Churches Photo
Clay Banks (claybanks@unsplash.com)
Reviews
Painting Churches by Tina Howe (2025)
“...captures the essence of Ionesco while giving it a contemporary relevance...subtle hilarity... (the IRC) is a unique gift to the Philadelphia theater community...”
--Dennis Bloh, Philly Life and Culture
The Bald Soprano (2020)
Director's Notes
September 2025
Welcome!
It’s so good to be back in theatrical communion with you all. The process of gathering for months, working with artists new and old, telling the stories that help us keep on keeping on.
Some thoughts on the process of selecting a play for this year’s Fringe, by far the most complicated in my 20 years of artistic direction at the IRC. The play selection process involves choosing authors and themes many months ahead of their opening, looking into theatrical crystal balls to anticipate what themes might be most resonant with audiences, what words will excite the actors, what aesthetic requirements will challenge the designers?
Given we are waking each day to a barrage of mind-bending political developments, distractions, and all manner of distortion, tapping into an artistic response is an absurd folly. Having directed and produced absurd and absurd-adjacent plays for nearly two decades some would argue there’s no better time to have an absurdist theatrical mission. To my mind, we have moved beyond absurd as a theatrical genre reflecting our day to day. What to say? The word absurd is now stale and insufficient.
One response presented: a play firmly rooted in the family relationships that define our existence. As we wade through this unsettling day to day, the relationships become the focus, a true north that may provide comfort and consistency from the daily storm of the incoming bluster. Tina Howe is the first female playwright the IRC has produced in 20 years; interpreting her unique view on families, history and legacy has been a challenging and uplifting exercise.
On a practical level, gathering with cherished fellow artists to build by hand (and with human brains) this work of art has been revitalizing and redemptive. As artificial intelligence invades our lives in ways both helpful and invasive, I’m happy to say, aside from visiting the Way Back Machine to unearth reviews of past productions, AI was not used in the directing or acting process.
Thank you for taking time to experience Tina Howe’s work with us.
Tina Ann Brock
Producing Artistic Director
Broad Street Review
ABSURDITY IS IN THE FAMILY
Philly Fringe 2025: IRC presents Tina Howe’s Painting Churches
Sep 04, 2025
By Josh Herron
How do we make absurd theater in an absurd age? That question is central to the expert absurdism enthusiasts at Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium (IRC). In her program notes for IRC’s Fringe show, Painting Churches, producing artistic director Tina Ann Brock writes, “To my mind we have moved beyond absurd as a theatrical genre, reflecting our day to day … The word absurd is now stale and insufficient.”
In this spirit, Brock and co-director Peggy Mecham’s production of Tina Howe’s play shows how the absurd can live in small moments of generational connection and family legacy. It also makes the case for Howe’s 1983 play to be considered a major work of American theater, not only for its lyrical writing but for the way it reveals character depths and delicately shows the complexity of family relationships.
Set in a handsome Beacon Hill home before a big move, Painting Churches centers on Fannie (Brock) and Gardner Church (John Zak). Their daughter Mags (Kirsten Quinn), a successful portrait artist, has returned to help with the move. She hopes to use the time to capture her parents’ likeness in a portrait while there is still time.
The family dynamics are complicated. Fannie shoulders the burden of caring for her Pulitzer Prize–winning poet husband as he descends further into dementia. Mags is desperate for her parents’ approval and bitter over their supposed refusal to give it. As the play unfolds, Howe’s writing and the ensemble’s performances make it clear that truth within a family is always more layered than what can be glimpsed in passing moments onstage.
Brock and Mecham’s direction feels both rooted in reality and true to the spirit of the company’s absurdist legacy. Their vision shines in showing how fragile and even surreal our family roles can be. As Fannie, Brock gives a deceptively layered performance; her depths reveal themselves beyond her eccentricities (and fanciful hats) as the play progresses. John Zak is fully embodied as the genius poet and loving father slipping in and out of his own mind. Kirsten Quinn’s Mags is full of yearning and grace. Her need for approval is grounded, never shrill or petulant.
The production looks strong across the board. Erica Hoelscher’s costumes sharpen the characters’ specificity, helping them feel even more fully realized. Scenic designer Dick Durossette’s stately, lived-in unit set gradually empties as belongings are packed away. Bob Schmidt and Mehki Williams’s tightly choreographed scene changes, paired with Andrew Nelson’s sound design, become a highlight in their own right. Somehow, I wished those transitions lasted longer.
WHAT, WHEN, WHERE
Painting Churches. By Tina Howe. Directed by Tina Ann Brock and Peggy Mecham. $25-$28. Through September 21, 2025 at Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium at Theatre Exile, 1340-48 S. 13th Street, Philadelphia. PhillyFringe.org.
ACCESSIBILITY
Theatre Exile is a wheelchair-accessible venue with gender-neutral restrooms.