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20% OFF Entire Tailored & dressy sty its aging sentiment If • » « • • • • » » » Charge it! We welcome your Spiess Charge, visa, MasterCard A American Express. NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Friday, August9,19S5 Pag* 3 Entertainment issue with wit, By Mark Baus Herald staff writer Lush strokes, fine lines and detail. Bringing order to the canvas from the cham of color. The portrait is complete. "Painting Churches," currently at the Woodstock Opera House, has something for both the young and old. Playwright Tina Howe has boldly chosen to confront her audience with issues with which most people do not want to deal - the aging and slow deterioration of the once brilliant, now infantile elderly. And Howe does it with enough humor and wit that the audience cannot help but laugh and cry at the same time. "Painting Churches" tells the story of an elderly couple, Gardner and Fanny Church (Edgar Meyer and Mary Ann Thebus). He's a writer- /poet on the brink of senility; as he works on a book of poetry criticism, he can't get past copying the poetry on paper. His wife Is simply trying to keep order in their slowly fading lives. When their daughter Mags (Isabella Hofmann) --> an up-and-coming artist - comes home to paint their portrait, memories return to bring joy and likewise haunt all three. The play is set in the livingroom the Churches longtime New England home -- from which the couple has been forced to move because Gardner no longer is able to maintain an income from his writing. They plan to set up year-round residence in their summer cottage on Cape Cod. Gardner's failing memory and the couple's eccentric mannerisms bring a sort of pathetic comedy to the drama. Their day is marked by the cocktail hour. When Gardner's memory slips from him and he loses his place in reality, he can always bring himself back by remembering it's time for a drink. But the couple is not without a sense of humor. When Mags asks them to pose for their portrait, the couple makes distorted faces and then connives to pose as the farm couple in Grant Wood's classic farm portrait "American Gothic." Mary Ann Thebus and Edgar Meyer , The couple is Inseparable, however, professing that one cannot live without the other. Meyer and Thebus, as Gardner and Fanny, are exquisite. His blank, confused stares truly show the inner turmoil of a man struggling with his memory. Thebus illicits both sympathy for her situation and disdain as she makes pathetic Jokes of her husband's loss of both mind and body functions. Hofmann as Mags brings an artist's intensity to her character. She vividly tells the story of her childhood bedroom exile for bad table manners, and when she created a cascade of colors by melting crayons over her radiator. "I have abilities, powerful abilities," Mags cries out, longing for her parents' acceptance of her craft. "Painting Churches" is equally funny and pathetic. The pain of watching Gardner's memory deteriorate is offset by the comic relief of the eccentric elderly couple: her love for gaudy hats purchased at thrift shops; his affection for his old clothes; and the couple's sudden discovery of the wonderful taste of saltine crackers. Michael Philippi's simple set is masterfully constructed, utilizing the entire stage without leaving it wanting for detail. The play, produced by WoodFest and Wisdom Bridge Theatre, runs through Sept. l at the Woodstock Opera House. Quartets to sing at Rialto "The Best of Barbershop" will be presented on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 8 p.m. at the Rialto Square Theatre, 102 North Chicago St., JoUet. Five International and Regional Championship Quartets and Choruses will be in concert. The event is sponsored Dy Lake Michigan Region 3, Sweet Adelines, Inc., the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs-IUinois Office of Tourism, and the Joliet Area Convention Bureau- Tickets for the event are $7.50 and $8.50, all seats are reserved. For information, call (312)242-7171 or (815)720-6600. VCR Repairs by Specialists! Bring us your VCR and this ad for $5.00 off on a maintenance inspec­ tion and head cleaning or $10 off on repair service. ((Satellite Source A subsidiary of Howafd Shadim Electronics. Inc. Where Electronic Engineering stands behind our Sales 221 Liberty Crystal Point Canter Crystal Lake, IL 815-455-6100 Gold Coast- Other artists, like Janet Samaras, ; take kind of a "vacation" approach • to the three-day affair. Besides ; staying at a nice downtown hotel, Samaras plans to enjoy the atmo­ sphere, and take advantage of the nearby Chicago pizzerias. She also noted that is gives her a chance to see old artist friends, and experi­ ence the "slice of life atmosphere of the city." Samaras is entering her eighth year at the fair, which she describes as, "the ultimate hassle, but the most of the mostest of all of them." She will be exhibiting her richly- textured, non-objective watercolor paintings at space 861, also at Rush and Pearson. Of all the McHenry artists exhib­ iting, Samaras' work is probably the best-suited for the downtown crowd, which she readily admits are her biggest customers. "It's my best show of the year," 5 she said. "If an artist can't do it • there, they're not going to make it." She also noted that the ultimate ; fantasy for any artist exhibiting > their work is to be able tfcpark their t vehicle in front or they'll exhibit. She said some will : start parking three days before the fair begins to enjoy that privilege. If eight years sounds like a long time, it probably sounds like noth­ ing compared to 15-year veteran Elvi Mikk, and 18-year veteran Lynn Krause. Mikk, who will be 63 this year, said she will only display her water color paintings on Saturday and Sunday because a three-day stint can be very tiring. She will be show­ ing her renditions of rural, as well as Maine sea and landscapes at space 633 in the traingular park at Delaware and Wabash. Mikk also noted the heavy de­ mand for space, and said people inquire every year if she'll give them hers when she decides to quit. "I plan to keep going though," she said, adding that she sold three paintings to a bank president last year. The same man called her a week later and bought nine more to give to relatives as presents. Krause said she's seen a lot in her 18 years at the fair, and notes that the atmosphere has become more suburban. "It's not as much fun as the 60's, when there were a lot of hippies," she said. "It doesn't have the same flavor." Krause also has some memorable jtejrom^ears gone^by^Qt when'they used to stay at the now- defunct Maryland Hotel, a flop- bouse for city indigents. She said they saw a man in a white suit and gloves fall while rol- lerskating from the hotel one day. Her husband fixed the man's skate, (Continued from page IB) and she said she didn't see him again until the afternoon, when she saw him rollerskating with a little old lady in hot pursuit. "She said she used to work for him, but they were both wackos," Krause said. "He then told us he was going to blow up the Water Tower, so we asked him 'at what time?"' He told us between eight and nine o'clock, so when that time came around, we took down our space and went over to see. He never showed up." Krause also recalled when the air show used to be held at the same time as the art fair. The planes would fly low over where the artists exhibited. She said the resulting noise would disturb the pigeons to the point that people and paintings would be targets of their distress. These days, Krause and her hus­ band stay at the posh Whitehall. As she puts it, "I deserve it." She will be exhibiting her acrylic and goauche renditions of interiors at space 103 at Rush and Delaware. As the--oldest veteran, Krause" probably has the definitive com­ ment concerning her participation after all these years: "1 tell myself 'If 1 survived the Gold Coast Art Fair, then I can go anywhere in the world and survive.'" ACCESSORY SALE NEW HEADQUARTERS FOR E Cub Cadetl LAWN AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 7̂ ̂ * SALES * SERVICE * ATTACHMENTS * PARTS BARMNGTON DOOR POWER EQUIPMENT 10699 Chase St., Algonquin . . 658-2260 . . 20% OFF 1928 Jewelry All 1928 jewelry In stock, necklaces, pins & bracelets. Reg. 7.50-35.00. Crystal Lake St. Charles 20% OFF Selected Handbags Group of textured leather & vinyl handbags. Pioneer, International, Sol Murtterperi & Empire-Orr. 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