The Souris Valley Theatre is bringing a little love to the Energy City.
The theatre's second performance of the season will be I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, featuring a series of vignettes dealing with a lifetime's worth of relationships.
Performances will run from July 5 to 28, Wednesday through Sunday, with matinees on Sunday at 2 p.m. Rehearsals for the show began on June 18 at the Doug Third Gymnasium.
Kevin Aichele is an actor and musician from Saltcoats, near Yorkton, but has spent most of his adult life working in Winnipeg with a short stint in Toronto. He has only worked in Saskatchewan a few times, previously performing at Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon.
"I had no idea Estevan even had a theatre until two months ago," said Aichele during a brief break from rehearsals outside the gymnasium last week.
With a small cast of four, it didn't take long for the actors to get to know each other. Aichele had worked with Aubree Erickson previously, but the other two cast members, Rebecca Lascue and Scott Heatcoat, were strangers.
"It's nice when you have a small cast and that time is really all focused on us," added Aichele. "It's kind of like camp out here. That's the only challenge sometimes. It's so relaxing and peaceful being out in the country that it's hard to remind yourself, 'Oh yeah, we're working.'"
Lascue is a Regina native, beginning her career on stage after getting her early theatre experience from Saskatchewan Express when she was growing up. She performed in Pride and Prejudice at the Globe Theatre in Regina earlier this year.
She said I Love You will be a relaxing and fun atmosphere for theatregoers.
"It's definitely the kind of theatre experience that's just fun," she said. "The whole play is about relationships, which everyone can relate to, not just romantic relationships but those through the stages of life. It's universal humour."
The play presents a series of vignettes detailing the quirks and realities of relationships an individual will experience throughout life rather than following a linear story from beginning to end.
"It's, kind of, progressing in a series starting with the awkwardness of dating to the end when it's dealing with old age and looking back on your marriage," she said.
Aichele said, because of the nature of the vignettes, the play moves along very quickly and just doesn't have any time to drag on. For each scene the actors play new and different characters, so each scene keeps things fresh for both the actors and the audience.
"They're all independent of each other but are all related to relationships. It's fun in that way that you get to play a lot of different characters. The characters all have their unique quirks and neuroses, so it's fun."
Lascue will play a little bit of everything throughout the production, from an awkward, nerdy girl, which she said suits her perfectly, as well as a lawyer and even a 10-year-old kid.
"When you're playing so many characters you want to figure out ways to make them somewhat different.," she said. "Normally when you have one character you have the whole script that you can draw from to understand that character, whereas in this kind of thing you have two pages to try and get information about them. I did a lot of supplementing and sort of made up lives for each one to try to then bring into the short little scripts."
She said the singing can also be difficult because she finds it important to give each character a different singing voice, especially the vocals of a 10-year-old.
"All the vignettes and all the stories, I think everyone can relate to. They're all pretty classic themes in dealing with the horrible awkwardness of first dates and the struggles that go along with making a relationship work and last," said Aichele. "Every scene I think people will find stuff where they can say, 'Oh, I've been there.'"
Lascue is particularly attached to one scene involving a couple who are new parents. Her sister gave birth shortly after rehearsals started, so Lascue is enjoying being an aunt for the first time.
"Some of the guys are like, 'Oh yeah, that can be so strange when people are crazy (about babies),' but that's, kind of, me right now," she said with a laugh.
"The one I'm enjoying the most now is the one near the end," added Aichele. "It's an old couple that meets at a funeral, and I really enjoy that one. I just find it's got a real sincerity and sweetness to it that I really like."
"We're having so much fun with it that I think, if you want to just come and have fun and have a night to just enjoy life and not worry about anything, I would recommend it," said Lascue. "I haven't laughed so much in the last year as I have in the last two weeks with this play."
The theatre will host a special night on July 4 for sponsors, who will get the first look at the latest show to feature at Frehlick Hall. There will be a wine and cheese event following the show so sponsors can meet the cast and see all the unseen faces that work behind the scenes.
There will also be some special things happening on opening night. Room By Room will be supplying two lucky lovers with a loveseat to watch the show. The comfy couch will be placed front and centre so no matter where your tickets are, you will have a chance to get uncomfortably close to the performers.
