Interview: Michael Perlman of SHE LOVES ME at Creede Repertory Theatre

Creede Repertory Theatre is thrilled to present She Loves Me in their upcoming summer repertory season. As rehearsals begin, 2017 CRT company members Kate Berry interviews director Michael Perlman about the upcoming process and his experiences at Creede Rep.

CRT: We've heard that She Loves Me is one of your favorite musicals. What about it makes it so?

MP: She Loves Me is definitely one of my favorite musicals. It's a combination of the admiration I have for the perfect craftsmanship that these writers have to the deep way the story of people trying their best to find love touches me. For me, a moment like "Will He Like Me" captures the human condition in a way that's just as vibrant and true as any of Shakespeare's sonnets.

CRT: What are the benefits of staging a musical on the CRT Mainstage? What are the challenges? (CRT's space has unique spatial limitations, including a lack of a stage left wing, fly space, or orchestra pit.)

MP: Well the intimacy is a huge benefit - it's not a huge space so you don't have to play anything larger than necessary - the audience is right there in the room with these characters. And the limitations of the space help foster creative solutions that often serve the show even better. The limitations of the space become harder as you need more people onstage. This wasn't a musical, but I remember with "Is He Dead?" there were times where much of the staging was actually solving a physics problem of how to fit everyone onstage. Because of the hoop skirts, it became like a game of tetris or sliding blocks to move people.

CRT: What are you most excited about this season?

MP: I'm always excited to come to Creede, but this season is particularly exciting because I think people will love this musical and I'm so excited to share it with the community. This cast is so spectacular, and putting them in a room with an audience with this heartwarming story is just what we need in this current political climate. I've been incredibly lucky here at Creede to do a wide range of shows, including some of my favorites. To get to share these stories I love, crafted in such masterful ways by brilliant writers and performed by a vibrant cast for an audience that is eager and hungry to hear them, is the director's dream, and I'm so excited to get to do just that this summer.

Don't miss She Loves Me this summer at Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado. For more information and to order tickets online, visit www.creederep.org.

ABOUT CREEDE REPERTORY THEATRE

As a cultural home for artists, residents, and visitors of the West, Creede Repertory Theatre creates a diverse repertory season of plays, new works, and dynamic education programs. Founded in 1966, Creede Repertory Theatre is a professional theatre company located at 9,000 feet in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Each season, CRT produces 7-10 plays in rotating repertory, hosts numerous musical events and concerts, develops new works through the Headwaters New Play Program, and offers nationally recognized educational programming. USA Today called CRT "one of the 10 best places to see the lights way off Broadway" and The Denver Post hailed CRT as "legendary" and "one of the state's top five theatre companies."