Review: Under "Tin Church," the Crypts of a Family's Past
Tin Church Written and directed by Robyne Parrish Presented by off the WALL productions at Chain Theatre 312 West 36th St., Floor 3, Manhattan, NYC October 23-November 23, 2024 Lilly Tobin, Virginia Wall Gruenert, Christina Perry, Marguerite Stimpson. Tin Church opens the doors into its Southern Gothic world with a gradual drawing down of the lights to the atmospheric strains of musician Adia Victoria 's " Where the Shadow Meets the Water ," finally leaving the set in shadowy relief, with a seated woman silhouetted behind a scrim. This woman, we will learn, is mother of three Mildred (Virginia Wall Gruenert), one node in the matrix of intergenerational trauma movingly traced by Tin Church , the first commissioned play and first full-length world premiere from actor, director, and playwright Robyne Parrish. Snatches of Victoria's song will recur, acting as one aural motif, with another a tap tap tap that, in addition to signaling other thematically significant link