WASHINGTON ISLAND, WI, January 7, 2010 – Cast members are already rehearsing for the Island Players winter production, “Painting Churches,” which will be performed at the Fellowship Hall of Trinity Church at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, February 20 and 21, and on Sunday, February 22, at 2:00 p.m.

“Painting Churches” is a play with three characters – Margaret Church and her parents, Fanny Sedgwick Church and Gardner Church. It’s a play about family relationships.

Joyce Morehouse (left) producer, and Laurie Seebart, director, of “Painting Churches” as they work out details of the play. “Painting Churches” is this year’s Island Players’ winter play, February 20, 21 & 22.

Margaret (played by Laurie Seebart) arrives home to the grand Boston house – where she grew up – to help her parents pack and move from the city to Cape Cod, their retirement home. Her parents are wealthy, cultured, and eccentric, and her father (Ham Rutledge) is beginning to be forgetful in his advanced years. Margaret is a successful New York artist who has unresolved issues with her parents. She wants to paint their portrait to help understand them and herself.

Island Players is a nonprofit community theater, which means it serves the community as well as uses the talents of members of the community to carry out its mission.

For this play it’s easy to grasp the idea of “community.” Although there are only three cast members, about 10 times that many members of the community are working together to put on the play. Yes, it will take about 30 people or more to make this play happen.

Who are they? Laurie Seebart is playing two roles: she is Margaret Church on stage, and she is also directing the play. Charlotte Manning, a past president of Island Players who has acted in several productions, is assistant director.

Joyce Morehouse is also playing two roles for this production. On stage she plays Fanny Sedgwick Church, and offstage she is in charge of production. That means she has to know how to use volunteers’ various talents and abilities and then coordinate how they work together behind the scenes to bring the production together.

Other backstage jobs include costumes, props, publicity, lighting, sound, stage management, technical direction, set construction, and makeup.

Jim Young, an architect, once again lent his talents to this production and designed a special set of three soaring windows to fit perfectly into Trinity’s Fellowship Hall, taking advantage of its cathedral ceiling. Terry Henkel, John Chapman, and Bob Wagner, among others, will be following Jim’s plans as they construct new flats and a customized stage.

“This play is built around the characters, and the light coming through the three large windows is an important part of the play. Mood lighting behind the windows will add to the drama happening on the stage,” commented Jim Young.

Lighting design will be the job of Alyssa Mann and Tate Remke, who have worked with Island Players on the lighting of recent productions. Emmett Woods is the overall technical director, and Cooper Henkel is stage manager.

Tickets go on sale in February. For more information, contact Joyce Morehouse at islandplayers@washingtonisle.com, (920) 847-2215, or visit the Island Players Web site at www.islandplayers.org.

by Mary Marik