Tin Church

 Tin Church
Off the Wall Productions
Chain Theatre
November 9, 2024

Photo courtesy of Off the Wall Productions

Playwright Robyne Parrish explores the traumatic effect of abuse in her play Tin Church.  She creates a haunting atmosphere where dreams and memories collide, giving the characters places to hide their secrets.  They are inevitably uncovered, yet never fully admitted to.

We first meet the characters, Mary (played by Marguerite Stimpson) and her younger sisters, Linda (played by Christina Perry) and Sue (played by Lilly Tobin), during a dream.  Mary says it’s her dream, yet her sisters think it’s theirs.  Later, Mary writes a letter to her cousin, thanking her for coming to her grandmother’s funeral.  Mary and her sisters discuss the items they took from their grandmother’s house after her funeral.  When Mary’s mother, Mildred (played by Virginia Wall Gruenert), is sitting with her girls on the porch, she asks Sue to bring their Daddy, who is up in his room, sick, a glass of sweet tea.  First, Mildred adds extra sugar.  The girls say it’s too much.  Later, Mildred has a dream.  Mary comes to her room at night because she can’t sleep.  Mary tells her mother that she saw her grandmother and her Daddy taking a nap together.  Mildred asks Mary if this is a dream or a memory. 

Lilly Tobin, Marguerite Stimpson, & Christina Perry
Photo courtesy of Off the Wall Productions

The ninety-five-minute play continues with these fragmented dream/memory scenes that create an unsettled atmosphere.  Piece by piece things start to connect.  The physical, sexual, and emotional abuse these women experienced is so overwhelming that none of the characters can face it.  They each cover it up in their own way, adding layers of trauma.

This cast, under the direction of the playwright, does a phenomenal job of telling this multi-layered story.  They create honest moments and truthful relationships that reveal the underlying story of their experiences.  The audience connects the images from the dreams and memories to the interactions of the characters in real time.  Marguerite Stimpson’s Mary is always looking out, searching for something.  Christina Perry’s Linda drinks too much and pushes her sisters’ buttons.  Lilly Tobin’s Sue is overly sensitive and wound way too tight.  Their real time scenes are full of conflict, which is reflected in the haunting manner of the dream sequences.  

Lilly Tobin, Virginia Wall Gruenert, Christina Perry, & Marguerite Stimpson
Photo courtesy of Off the Wall Productions

Virginia Wall Gruenert plays Mildred as a grounded matron for the family.  When we realize what she’s been doing when sweetening her husband’s tea, we understand that groundedness is not rooted in sanity.

The heartbreak of this story is how this family trauma remains unresolved at the end of the play.  Two of the characters, Linda and Sue, have children of their own.  They argue over who is more like their mother.  It is astounding how much of this pattern will be passed down to the next generation, as it was passed on to these women. 

Tin Church is playing at Chain Theatre through November 23. 

Domenick Danza