Return Engagement
When Interplayers asked Bob and Joan Welch to appear in the lead roles of “Painting Churches,” which opens tonight for previews, Joan described the feeling as “exhilarating.” Bob used a literary reference to describe his feelings. “Thomas Wolfe said you can’t,” said Bob. “But we are.” “Go home again” is what Wolfe famously said you can’t do. But that’s what the Welches will be doing, at least metaphorically, because Interplayers was their artistic home for more than 20 years. The Welches founded the theater in 1980 and ran it until 2001.
When they retired three years ago and turned the operation over to Robin Stanton, they soon found themselves unwelcome at Interplayers for various complicated reasons. They have played no role in the theater at all — not on the board, not on the stage and for some of that time, not even in the audience.
Yet after Stanton left last winter, the atmosphere changed dramatically. The new management, headed by artistic director Nike Imoru, couldn’t think of a better way to get the season off on the right foot than by getting the Welches back onto the stage.
Even though another play (“Same Time Next Year”) was originally announced to lead the season, Interplayers decided to switch to “Painting Churches,” if only the Welches would agree.
It wasn’t like they were sitting around waiting. But they were “very happy to be asked,” said Bob.
“This new group of people is very nice and charming to us and very supportive of us,” he said.
The choice of “Painting Churches” was natural because the Welches appeared together in this play in 1986. Still, they had some apprehension about taking on the project.
“That was 18 years ago,” said Bob. “I could hardly remember the title, much less remember all the lines. We’ve had to re-learn it all, at a much older age.”
Yet they still are big fans of this Tina Howe play, which was a Pulitzer Prize nominee in 1984. It’s about an aging poet, Gardner Church, and his wife Fanny. Their daughter, played by Libby Skala, an accomplished New York actress and playwright, comes home to help them move to a smaller place. She’s a painter, and she asks them to sit for a portrait — thus the title.
The play deals with a condition that has become much more well-known in the last 20 years.
“But Alzheimer’s is never mentioned in the play,” said Bob. “It’s a very funny play, a tender play and a touching play.”
“Eighteen years ago, the world wasn’t the same as it is now,” said Joan. “The play, to me, is now much more important than what it was, even though it should have been then.”
As for the director, Imoru, “We’re having a great time with Nike,” said Bob.
“She is a very intelligent, informed person with a great deal of energy and talent,” added Joan.
The day after the last performance of the run, the Welches will have an even more exhilarating day. Interplayers will dedicate the auditorium in their name. Bob called it “an honor.”
“I feel very honored by it, too,” said Joan. “And I try to go in the next room when people ask about it because it sounds so conceited, (as if I’m) something other than a plain person who works hard and loves the theater.”
The dedication ceremony begins with a champagne reception at 1 p.m. on Sept. 26, and continues with a performance of “Lilia,” Skala’s one-woman play about her grandmother, Oscar-nominated actress Lilia Skala, at 2 p.m. The dedication ceremony and open house will follow.
Tickets are $50, available by calling Interplayers at 455-PLAY.