NEW YORK CITY

Painting Again

Playwright Tina Howe chose Keen Company with enthusiasm for the Off-Broadway revival of her Pulitzernominated Painting Churches. Nearly 30 years after its debut, Howe says she views her three-character play - about an artist returning home to paint a portrait of her parents- with a more wistful eye. "Now the pathos of the situation is much closer to me and more moving," Howe says. "Before they were difficult, aging parents - now I see some of myself in them."

Keen's artistic director Carl Forsman, who revived Howe's Museum in 2002 (in a production she considered "impeccable"), will direct Painting Churches, which runs through April 7 at the Clurman Theatre, with John Cunningham, Kathleen Chalfant and Kate Turnbull comprising the cast. "This is exactly how I wanted it done - an intimate theatre, real stage actors, the best designers," Howe attests. "Not reintroduced with a trumpet volley, but a single, graceful violin."

-Lauren Smart