By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Dave Donnelly plays the once famous poet Gardner Church
and Maureen Borromeo plays his daughter Margaret, an artist
on the verge of celebrity, in "Painting Churches."
All it offers is a well-written and reasonably true-to-life portrait of an American family addressing problems every family faces if the elder generation lives long enough. Playwright Tina Howe engages the emotions and touches the heart although she may hit a bit close for those with aging parents. MVT's production benefits from striking performances as well.
Gardner Church (Dave Donnelly) is an upper-class Pulitzer Prize-winning poet now past his mental prime. A charming and agreeable old-school gentleman, he can quote great stretches of poetry yet sometimes can't remember why he's taking his coat to the closet or where he just dropped the first page of his manuscript. Only gradually is it revealed that although he spends hours each day on a new book, he actually just is rewriting the same bits and pieces and making no forward progress at all!
He and his equally patrician wife, Fanny (Jo Pruden), are moving out of their Boston home and into a smaller place in the country. She seems mentally sharp and capable, yet at one point suggests that he sort out the books in his library by the color of their bindings. Is she playing with him or is she starting to slip as well?
Their daughter, Margaret (Maureen Borromeo), an up-and-coming artist, also has emotional scars and secrets.
Howe wrote from a straight real-life perspective; none of the characters becomes cliches. Director Vanita Rae Smith plays it straight as well. The mood shifts, our sympathies waver, but we empathize even when a situation evokes laughter.
Donnelly is thoroughly believable as an articulate but aging man of letters reduced to repeating himself day after day. He generates laughter at key moments with the simplest gestures yet never loses the humanity of the character. He should be seen more often.
Pruden has had a lock in recent years on playing patrician women of advancing years be they sweet, bitter or downright nasty. She'll certainly earn yet another Po'okela nomination, at the least, for her work with this fine, multi-layered role. Sometimes shrewish or poignantly romantic, she illuminates each facet.
Borromeo adds a solid portrayal of the seemingly well-adjusted daughter. Her biggest scene is perplexing in its premise but accomplishes its dramatic purpose. To say more would spoil its impact.
What: "Painting Churches"