REAL, ENOUGH Will Make World Premiere at ThreePenny Theatre

Salt Lake City-based ThreePenny Theatre Company will be presenting another world premiere this fall; Real, enough, with book and lyrics by Marina Altschiller-Gannon, who also serves as director. Music is by Altschiller-Gannon and Michael Freitag, with arrangement by Freitag. Performances will run Nov. 13 to Nov 22, 2026. 

Real, enough is a story about love, in every sense of the word. When Claire, a writer running from a life that no longer feels like her own, moves to a small town to finally write her novel, she meets Sarah, a woman rebuilding her life after the death of her boyfriend, Alex...whose spirit just so happens to be stuck on Earth and unable to move on. When Claire offers to help Alex finish his 'unfinished business,' past and present collide, and all three must reckon with grief, connection, and what it really means to move forward.

The show opens Friday, Nov. 13 and goes until Sunday, Nov. 22 with a total of six performances only, at the Alliance Theater Black Box in Trolley Square.

Interviews are available with Altschiller-Gannon and the cast. Reviewer tickets are also available.

Altschiller-Gannon, who is based in Salt Lake City, told us about her background and what inspired her to write Real, enough.

'Real, enough' started with a single song back in 2023,' she said. 'A friend and I had been lamenting the lack of romantic leads for altos and baritones in contemporary musical theatre. Having previously written music and lyrics for another show, I decided to try solving my own problem.

'As I started writing, I became fascinated with the idea of 'right person, never the right time.' Could I write a love story where no one ends up together, there's no chance of a traditional happily ever after, and yet the audience is still rooting for love? From there, I found myself exploring all the different ways someone can become the greatest love of your life, even when you know you can never be together.

'As for my background, I've been involved in theatre for most of my life. I studied Theatre Studies at Emerson College, where I founded Dive In Productions, a theatre company based on the New Hampshire Seacoast. Over the years, I've worked as an actor, director, producer, designer, and just about anything else you can imagine when you're trying to put on a great show with a tiny budget!'

She also spoke about what she's looking forward to about directing the show.

'I've been working on Real, enough for over three years, and this will be the first time I get to see it fully staged,' she said. 'Dozens of rewrites, virtual readings, and a workshop production have led to this moment. This show is deeply personal to me. It explores loss, connection, friendship, and the ways we sometimes become our own worst enemies in an effort to protect ourselves. But it's also funny, hopeful, and full of characters who are just trying to figure out how to love each other.'

Actor Sam Torres, who plays Claire, spoke about what appeals to her about the show from an actor's point of view.

'As an actor, I appreciate writing that feels lived-in and deeply personal,' she said. 'This show is both, even with the presence of someone who is already dead. There is something beautiful about the opportunity to explore a fantasy that feels so profoundly ordinary and human. There also seems to be a shortage of musical theatre written for women with rich, lower voices, and Marina and Michael have created a score unlike much of what I encounter on the page. On behalf of all the altos and mezzos out there, thank you!

'I submitted my audition while on an airplane to Greece, where I was headed to a remote village for a week without cellular service. It felt like a leap of faith. When I first read the show's description, I connected deeply with its central idea of art as a means of healing. For my character, Claire, that art is her writing. Claire is a dreamer who struggles to reconcile the world she imagines with the uncomfortable truths of the one she inhabits. In many ways, her journey becomes an exploration of her relationship with truth itself: the stories she tells, the realities she resists, and the courage it takes to confront what is real.

'I think that struggle is profoundly relatable to actors, artists, and storytellers. We create worlds to make sense of our own, and sometimes those worlds become places to hide. There is something deeply human about learning when our imagination is helping us heal and when it is keeping us from the truth. That tension is what makes this show so compelling and, ultimately, so easy to connect with.'

She added of her history with ThreePenny Theatre: 'I first met Jonah and Cody while playing Rose in A Shayna Maidel,' she said. 'The company found me shortly after I moved to Salt Lake City and began establishing myself as an artist in this valley. I was immediately drawn to their mission of bringing meaningful, compelling work to a community that doesn't often have the opportunity to experience these kinds of stories.

'For the past 20 months, I've stepped away from performing to focus on my personal journey in recovery. When this opportunity came along, it felt like a beautiful and natural invitation to return to a world I have always loved. There is something especially meaningful about finding my way back to the stage with a company that welcomed me when I first arrived here.'

Actor Verona Miller, appearing in her first show for ThreePenny Theatre as Sarah, also spoke about what appeals to her about the show as an artist.

'I think that the biggest thing that appeals to me about this show as an actor is how the relationship levels vary in terms of depth when it comes to what the word 'love' means and that it does not always have to be romantic to feel/be meaningful,' she said. 'It also is such a unique musical with beautiful songs, and I just love a good ghost story!'

She added: 'I think that this show will speak to anyone who has had a love they felt wasn't quite resolved in the way they had wanted, or even at all. Whether it was a friendship, a family member, or a lover. I think this show and story are important simply because sometimes as humans we can get so wrapped up in the romantic side of love and what that 'should' look like that we forget about the more real, honest, and not so pretty side of love that makes it feel that much more intense, and we shun it completely because it doesn't fit into the narrative we've created. Love is in every relationship we have; that can make the word mean so much more, or completely devalue it altogether, depending on where you sit in your journey with the word 'love.''

Actor Joshua Sevy, appearing in his first show for ThreePenny as Alex, added: 'I love this show so much! It's musically interesting, emotionally involved, and really funny. I feel like it's the kind of show you feel the whole spectrum of emotions when you go see it.

'This show forces us to confront parts of ourselves that we may be ashamed of. Parts that repeat those patterns that keep us trapped. It's really cool.'

Altschiller-Gannon also spoke about why she feels this is an important story to tell now, in 2026.

'I don't think love can exist without hope,' she said. 'I'll be the first to say that 2026 has been an incredibly hard year for so many people. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by everything happening around us and lose sight of the things that make life worth living. At its heart, Real, enough is about choosing to love even when you know you might get hurt. It's about allowing ourselves to make mistakes, laugh at ourselves, and find joy in the people around us, even when life doesn't turn out the way we imagined. I think there's something really powerful about telling a story that doesn't promise everything will work out, but still asks us to believe that love is worth it. Getting to share that message right now feels incredibly special.'