SAF’s (Not-So-Young) People’s Theater: “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!”

28 Sep SAF’s (Not-So-Young) People’s Theater: “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!”

Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation presents the inaugural production of the Not-So-Young People’s Theater, a four-night run of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” The event takes place Thursday, October 7 – Sunday, October 10, 8 p.m. nightly. Tickets are $20 plus a $5 ticketing fee and all reserved seating. Thursday, October 7 is half-priced Local’s Night with tickets only $10 (plus a $2.50 ticketing fee). For tickets and more information visit www.SheridanOperaHouse.com or call 970-728-6363.

For more from the Sheridan Opera House, go here and here.

This celebration of the mating game takes on the truths and myths behind that contemporary conundrum know as “the relationship.” Act I explores the journey from dating and waiting to love and marriage; Act II reveals the agonies and triumphs of in-laws and newborns, trips in the family car and pick-up techniques of the geriatric set. This hilarious revue pays tribute to those who have loved and lost, to those who have fallen on their face at the portal of romance, to those who have dared to ask, “Say, what are you doing Saturday night?”

Young People’s Theater Artistic Director Leah Heidenreich created the Not-So-Young People’s Theater as an opportunity to work with community members of all ages for one production a year. Explaining her decision to to branch out from exclusively youth theater, Heidenreich said:

“There is so much incredible musical theater material out there that can only be tapped into with adults. There is an entire world of performance art that I would love to bring to life with our entire community, including the grown-ups who love musical theater as much as I do…Whether the show is exclusively cast with adults, like ‘I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change,’ or we produce a big musical that is a mixed cast of ages (think ‘Annie,’ ‘Matilda,’ ‘Oliver,’ etc), I want the opera house to mount one show per year with the Not-So-Young People’s Theater. Think Rodgers & Hammerstein, think Stephen Sondheim, think Kander and Ebb!”

Musical theater fans will know the show as the second longest-running show off-Broadway.
Heidenreich chose “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” as the first production for both logistical and artistic reasons. The dynamite small cast of Ryan Heidenreich, Meghan Knowles, Andrew Murphy and Megan Murphy meant rehearsal and sets could be pared down, a necessity during the ongoing pandemic.

Additionally, Heidenreich explains that the show “has always been on my radar, but it’s just not a show I could ever produce with kids…It’s a fool-proof musical; EVERYONE loves this show, even people who don’t typically enjoy going to the theater.”

Star Meghan Knowles shares, “I think anyone who has dated will resonate with the first half of the show and trials and tribulations of going on comically disappointing dates (especially if you’ve dated in a mountain town!).”

The Sheridan Arts Foundation values the safety and health of our patrons and staff above all else. Molekule air purifiers and hand sanitizer stations are dispersed throughout the building, at the door, everyone must provide proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of the event.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation was founded in 1991 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to preserve the historic Sheridan Opera House as an arts and cultural resource for the Telluride community, to bring quality arts and cultural events to Telluride and to provide local and national youth with access and exposure to the arts through education. The Sheridan Arts Foundation is sponsored in part by grants from the Telluride Foundation, CCAASE and CCI.