Telluride’s SquidShow Theatre: Straight to heart of the matter

10 Feb Telluride’s SquidShow Theatre: Straight to heart of the matter

When the going gets tough, the tough don diapers and wings and arm themselves with bows and arrows.

In 2009, Telluride’s SquidShow Theatre Company produced no fewer than one full-length contemporary play, four full-length original plays, six professional play readings, and two historical adaptations from non-fiction work, a whopping 22 performances, reaching over 1,600 locals and tourists. SquidShow Theatre hit the ground running in 2010, packing the Sheridan Opera House with an unprecedented encore performance of “Inaccurate Reenactments,” its Telluride Historical Museum-sponsored hit.

And yet the Squids lost their funding from regional grants.

“It was a tough pill to swallow,” says SquidShow Theatre founder, Sasha Cucciniello. “Last year was so successful for us, we thought we had a mandate from the community.”The Squids now find themselves in a compromised position: short of funds badly needed to put on their popular shows, which by design, are almost always performed free to the public. “We wouldn’t want to perform any other way.”

Resilient and determined, SquidShow Theatre hatched a plan to raise funds. Enter Cupid Grams.

Here’s how they work. Choose from a menu of Cupids ranging from Economy Cupids ($20) to Specialty Cupids ($30 – $50) to the Cupid Crew ($100) “perfect for serenading your staff,” says Cucciniello. Once you’ve chosen your Cupid’s theme, (for example, Air Guitar Cupid), customers then dictate the tone of their Valentine message: love, secret love, friendship or even “I’ll never forgive you,” (break-up optional). Per usual, the SquidShow gang is having some kind of fun.

When the area’s largest employer of sweethearts found out about the creative fundraising efforts, they immediately submitted an order.

“There is a certain special department that we have all been secretly admiring,” says Telski Employees Relation Manager, Jason Merritt.

The recipient of that Grande Cupid Gram — which will include an array of goodies, including Comedy Fest tickets (generously donated by the festival’s founder and producer, Jeb Berrier) — remain a tightly guarded secret.

In the spirit of the holiday, and in addition to Telski’s Cupid Gram order, CEO Dave Riley is also partnering with SquidShow Theatre to advertise and execute slope-side Cupid Gram deliveries throughout the weekend.

“I guess I just like the idea of grown Cupids taking turns and turning heads on our mountain,” says Riley.
Cupid Grams will be delivered Friday, February 12 through Sunday, February 14. The full Cupid Gram menu — posted around town, on the SquidShow Theatre Facebook page or at www.squidshow.org, — also includes an a la carte section. What’s Valentine’s Day, after all, without a dozen roses from China Rose, especially if those roses are delivered, during the work day, unexpectedly, by Bad Poetry Cupid, who happens to be wearing a diaper, and donning wings (courtesy of Sara Doehrman of Wings by Sara).

Clint Viebrock documented the stealth delivery of Telski’s first Cupid Grams. Chocolate and roses are suddenly soooo yesterday.