Philly Fringe 2025: IRC presents Tina Howe’s Painting Churches

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.