The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council will host a reception for its Spring Salon Art Show on Friday, April 11, from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at the Powerhouse. After the reception, guests are encouraged to attend the opening night of Theatre Oxford’s musical-comedy “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The art show will feature works from artists such as Ellie McLellan, Sandra McLaughlin and Alba Rocio Harrelson, who applied a year in advance to be a part of a YAC show and were selected by a committee to showcase their work at the spring event.
Sandra McLaughlin describes her art as a “cross between folk art and realistic art.” She is particularly fond of the idea of pairing art and theater.
“I think it’s a really great thing to do because it opens up two venues on the same night,” McLaughlin said.
The art show reception is free. Guests can expect light refreshments in the company of the artists and their artwork.
Theatre Oxford’s production of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” is directed by René Pulliam, the former head of the BFA program in musical theatre at the University of Mississippi. The music direction is by Justin Wadkins, graduate instructor and PhD student in music at the university.
The show is a series of 20 short, interconnected vignettes that explore romantic relationships. YAC describes the musical as “a hilarious and heartfelt revue.”
“This is from the 1990s, so this is heterosexual romantic relationships, — from married people to newlyweds, dating, people who’ve been together for years and all kinds. So we’re looking at the romance in these relationships from all different angles,” Pulliam said.
Tickets to the theater production are $15 – $25. Student and senior tickets are $18.
Wayne Andrews, director of the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council, is hoping to build a larger and more supportive audience for the visual and performing arts by pairing the two events.
“We’re hoping maybe people that love visual arts that haven’t been to a play will come to a play, and maybe the people that come to the plays will come early and support the visual artists,” Andrews said.
Ashley Charles, a Brookhaven, Miss., native and junior fine arts major, is a photographer for Theatre Oxford. Charles hopes this event will provide more opportunities for both artists and performers.
“It gives people who are coming to see the musical a chance to experience other people’s art, and it also gives artists more exposure,” Charles said. “Being an artist or a painter, it is kind of hard to get your work put out there and seen by people.”
She encourages her fellow students to come to support the Oxford arts community.
“If (students) have time to come experience some things like that or just be of support to the event, (I would encourage them),” Charles said.
