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

This G*d Damn House

 This G*d Damn House
Chain Theatre
March 24, 2023 

Photo courtesy of Chain Theatre

Chain Theatre is producing the world premiere of Matthew McLachlan’s This G*d Damn House.  The play is a complex story of a family coming to terms with their truths.  The stakes are high and the clock is ticking as the characters do all they can to hold it together.  Director Ella Jane New works with an excellent cast to uncover the secrets that have kept this family together for years, and ultimately end up destroying them. 

Angie (played by Sachi Parker) has been evicted from her Florida home.  She has less than twenty-four hours to get out.  She called her son Jacob (played by Kirk Gostkowski) to do the heavy lifting.  He called his brother, Danny (played by Gabriel Rysdahl), a playwright living in New York City, to fly down to help him.  The brothers do what they can to avoid the memories they unearth as they work through the night sorting the trash and belongings Angie horded over the years.  When Angie’s teaching assistant, Hannah (played by Rica de Ocampo), arrives to lend a hand, it is revealed that Angie lost her job six months ago.  This begins a slow unraveling of the lies Angie has told about her eviction.  It is not until Jacob’s wife, Ally (played by Christina Perry), who is eight months pregnant, shows up at 3:30 AM that the full truth is uncovered and the unavoidable transpires. 

Sachi Parker, Kirk Gostkowski, & Gabriel Rysdahl
Photo courtesy of Chain Theatre

Sachi Parker beautifully portrays the complexities of Angie’s character.  In Act I she is witty and
charming.  Her slow, aging physicality is juxtaposed by her fast-paced, energetic, non-stop talking.  Her sly smile and enigmatic gaze seduce her sons into helping her in her time of need.  In Act II, after her pregnant daughter-in-law confronts her, she shows her true colors.  She is cold, cunning, and manipulative.  This scene between Ms. Parker and Christina Perry is riveting.  It is the key turning point of the play, and these two women skillfully deliver the potent punch that shifts the action for all the characters.    

The set design, by David Henderson, and set dressing, by David Kaplan, create an atmosphere that truly reflects Angie’s character.  At the top of the show, the set is filled with boxes and shopping bags.  Piles of dirty clothes are strewn everywhere.  The old, worn furniture is completely hidden.  As the characters pack up and empty the house, dirt and stains are revealed on the walls and carpet.  The truth of the house is uncovered.  It is filthy and repellent.  The house is Angie.  When Jacob loses all patience with his mother, he shows her the dirt on his hands and says, “This is you.”  Angie is the g*d damn house.

This G*d Damn House is playing at Chain Theatre (312 W 36th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10018) through April 8. 

Domenick Danza