A play will show the trials, tribulations, tragedies and triumphs of love next week. 

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” will be performed five times next week at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the Black Box of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Jean Wolski, a professor of theatre arts and the director of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” said the play is a musical review of relationships.

“It examines relationships starting from first dates, going through love and marriage, divorce, and what happens after the spouse passes away,” Wolski said. “It sort of runs the whole spectrum of relationships.”

Wolski said the scenes in the play are different and makes the play fun to watch and perform. 

“The fun and the challenge for them is the range of characters they have, and there are varying music styles in it,” Wolski said. “There is a song that sounds like it is a country western, one that sounds like it’s from the 1950s, an opera; there is a variety of things they’ve worked on.”

The play, written in the 1990s, explores what affects relationships and how relationships play out in life.

“It explores all the things that are out there, or were out there in the 1990s and beyond,” Wolski said. 

The play was originally scripted for four people, but Wolski said they have expanded the cast to 10. 

“It is so flexible that you can add people in, and one of the reasons we looked at it here, is that you can cast additional people,” Wolski said. 

The cast is made up of five men and five women.

“They play a myriad of roles throughout the evening,” Wolski said. “It’s a lot of fun, the cast has been great.”

Rachael Sapp, a sophomore history major and a theatre arts major, will be playing a nerd, a bridesmaid and other characters during the play.

“There is not one character that shows up throughout the play, there are small vignettes,” Sapp said. “I play several different characters.”

Wolski said the script is also written in a way that no one character is more important than the other.

“There is not a differentiation in anybody, it is a very balanced acting throughout,” Wolski said. “It is more of a company than a starring role and secondary characters.”

Wolski said she is excited about the play being brought to the stage.

“We are at the point where we are doing the run-through and seeing the characters emerge, the actors are adding their own touches to things, and the play is starting to blossom,” Wolski said. 

Sapp said the play is comical.

“Sometimes the jokes get stale, get old, but they haven’t gotten old, I’m laughing at the same jokes, it is very funny,” Sapp said.

Wolski said the play is something that everyone can relate too. 

“They are going to see a little bit of their own relationships and their own experiences, it depends on their age of the people in the audience at different times,” Wolski said. “If it is a younger artist, they may see some foreshadowing of things that are going to happen in the future. 

Wolski said she thinks audience members will recognize characters.

“I think they are going to see characters that they can all relate to, that they’ve all met at one time or another, and because of that, there is a connection to the play and to the things that happen in it,” Wolski said. 

Wolski said this is a play that audience members will enjoy. 

“It’s not one of the deep things where audiences will go away contemplating life afterwards, but it is a sweet reflection of different stages of our life as we know it,” Wolski said. 

Tickets are $5 for students, $12 for general admission, and $10 employees and audience members ages 62 and older. 

Sapp said it is a reflection of real life people. 

“It’s kind of a reality of the funny things we do in relationships,” Sapp said. “Everyone will see a part of themselves in the scenes, and it lets you laugh at yourself if you had problems in the past.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.