The best portrait artists capture more than the outward appearance of their subjects. There are subtle secrets of the soul revealed in the glint of light across a face or a tilt of the head. A portrait is an attempt at capturing the truth of a person in a moment, no matter how awkward or noble.

This week, Haywood Arts Repertory Theatre opens its 2002 studio season with a dramatic comedy about a daughter’s attempt to paint a portrait of her elderly parents. Nevermind that she’s not exactly on good terms with them. Though it’s a story with serious themes, expect some laughs along the way in “Painting Churches.”

The play, written by Tina Howe, revolves around the Church family — Gardener, the acclaimed poet and well-respected patriarch who is suffering from Alzheimer’s; his wife Fannie, who now has the troubling task of packing up the couple’s possessions as they move to a beach cottage; and Margaret, a talented painter who struggles to win favor from her parents. It’s a story about coming to terms with faulty family relationships and learning to accept people as they grow and change.

The show will be performed Friday, Jan. 11, and Saturday, Jan. 12, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 13, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $7 for all seats. A special showing will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 10. Proceeds will go to the Alzheimer’s Association of Western North Carolina. Tickets for that night are $10.

Originally, the play was going to be performed last September, but scheduling conflicts postponed it until now. Real-life husband and wife Hugh and Dot Burford, who play the Churches in the play, first went over the script while taking an acting class taught by Lloyd Kay. The Burfords had worked with Lynnette Wright (who plays the daughter in “Painting Churches”) during HART’s first play in the Performing Arts Center — “Raney” — several years ago. So, as is the case with many of the HART studio shows, a group of actors decided to work together on a play. Kay, who was in the play some years ago as Gardener, directs this ensemble in a space that has become a wonderful niche for developing and showcasing some of HART’s best talent.

For Hugh and Dot, it’s a fun opportunity to act out a different side of their husband-and-wife personalities on stage.

“I get to yell at Hugh; that’s the fun part,” Dot said. Though part of her character is flamboyant and ridiculous, which lends the play some of his humorous scenes, the part of Fannie that is strong and determined is truer to her own real-life personality, Dot explained.

Hugh’s character, meanwhile, is a poet past his prime who raises his wife’s ire with his bumbling.

“He can’t do what he once did,” Hugh said.

While Fannie is frustrated by her husband’s lagging memory, she also criticizes her daughter’s artistic lifestyle. Margaret, an only child, is out to prove to her parents that she has chosen the right career. The portrait of the Churches becomes poignant symbol of the family’s dynamics.

This play will be the first of several plays in the Performing Arts Studio, located in Waynesville. Later this month — Jan. 25-27 — Jon and Carrie Howard star in “Brilliant Traces,” a bittersweet comedy about a runaway bride who stumbles into a man’s remote cabin in Alaska in the middle of a blizzard. The two talk about trying to come to terms with their own personal struggles.

Then in February, Barbara Bates Smith, who won a local following at HART with her production of “Ivy Rowe” and last year’s “Wit,” performs a sampler of scenes from some of the books of Lee Smith. It’s called “B. Smith Does Lee Smith.” Then opening March 1 will be “The Fantasticks,” New York City’s longest running play ever. A magical romantic musical begins its own run at the Performing Arts Center.

For more information about these shows or for ticket information, call the HART box office between 1-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 828.456.6322.