YORK'S newest theatre company, Valley Arts, make their debut with Ordinary Days at the John Cooper Studio Theatre, 41 Monkgate, from tonight to Saturday.

Directed by co-founder Megan Conway, Adam Gwon's American musical utilises only a cast of four and a piano to tell the stories of four people in New York who are struggling to connect.

"It's about realising that the jigsaw pieces of our lives, as jumbled as they may seem, can fit together, even if we have to shift our perspective to see it," says Megan, whose stage company comprises Matthew Ainsworth as Jason, Jess Main as Claire, Sam Lightfoot-Loftus as Warren and Emma-Louise Lane as Deb.

"In all honesty, I hadn’t heard of Ordinary Days before Ben Papworth, our company director, suggested the show to me. After listening to the soundtrack, I agreed that this would be the perfect debut show for Valley Arts; we only needed four cast members, there's no band apart from a piano and it’s the sort of show you need to do in an intimate setting, hence choosing 41 Monkgate. It also helped that Ryan Durkan, our musical director, had played for the show before."

Megan's directorial experience has been "fairly limited so far". "I made my debut with Little Shop Of Horrors last July with the York Orchard Theatre Company, and then organised musical theatre performances for the Forever Young Theatre Festival with the youth group of the same company," she says. "It’s been a whole new experience directing four adults though!"

York Press:

Valley Arts company director Ben Papworth and artistic director Megan Conway

For Megan, the theme of Ordinary Days is the need to appreciate the little things in life. "That may sound a cliché, but really life is all about living, and when you look at the stark contrasts in the four characters, there's so much you can learn from each of them," she says. "In our daily lives we pass so many people; we don’t know where they’ve been, what stage they’re at in their lives or what they may be going through at any given time.

"The main appeal of Ordinary Days, for me, is the idea that you can have a musical with comedy, drama and emotion without being unrealistic. Everyone will be able to relate to at least one character, if not more than one, in some way or other."

Megan would struggle to choose a favourite song in the show. "I enjoy all of them!" she reasons. "My favourite moment is Rooftop Duet/Falling as it’s a point where all four characters are on stage and the harmonies are just spine-tingling. The first time I watched this song being performed by our cast was the moment of realisation that we had something really special here. Ryan and I both felt quite emotional."

Valley Arts Theatre Company and Valley Arts Youth are the creation of Ben, Megan, Ryan and production manager Luke Hutchinson. "We have a raw passion for the musical theatre world and each of us has vast amounts of experience in our own field already," says Megan.

Tickets for the 7.30pm performances of Valley Arts' first show are on sale at thelittleboxoffice.com/valleyartstheatre