GUEST ARTIST SERIES: Music
Gaelynn Lea Presents
Book Launch & Concert: IT WASN’T MEANT TO BE PERFECT
April 30, 2026
Gaelynn Lea—folk musician, Broadway composer, and disability advocate—will be at Open Eye Theatre for a musical performance and a discussion of her new memoir, IT WASN'T MEANT TO BE PERFECT. She will be joined in conversation by Matthew Sanford, who is a nationally-recognized author, yoga teacher, and pioneer in adapting yoga for people with disabilities.
About Our Guest Artist Series
In addition to our MainStage productions, Open Eye is deeply committed to curating and presenting a dynamic Guest Artist Series that highlights emerging local artists and innovative performing ensembles who tell stories in ways that are fresh, fun, and experimental.
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TICKETS
$15 — GENERAL ADMISSION
$40 — GENERAL ADMISSION + BOOKAGE RECOMMENDATION: All ages
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PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Thursday, 4/30, 7:00pm
RUN TIME: Approximately 90 minutes
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ACCESSIBILITY
Contact us at 612-874-6338 or boxoffice@openeyetheatre.org for accessibility information and requests.
COVID PRECAUTIONS: This show is masking-optional.
It Wasn't Meant to Be Perfect A Memoir
Gaelynn Lea
Folk musician, Broadway composer, and disability advocate Gaelynn Lea's warm, funny, poignant memoir is a love letter to every kind of body, to music, and to making it work––inspiring us to embrace all of life's experiences with heart and determination
Gaelynn Lea was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Her parents were loving, cash-strapped theater kids, and she grew up racing about in her first electric wheelchair, taking adaptive ballet classes, and handing out playbills at her parents' dinner theater shows. Transfixed by an orchestra performance in 5th grade, Gaelynn was determined to play the cello. When her shortened limbs made playing the instrument challenging, she employed a familiar tactic: adapting. What if she held a violin upright in her wheelchair, like the world's tiniest cello? That what if was the key that unlocked her lifelong music career.
After winning NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert in 2016, Lea became a full-time touring musician—and that's when she began truly to struggle with the inaccessibility of the music world. Out of necessity, she became a dedicated advocate and activist, pushing back against the prevailing stereotypes, assumptions, and barriers with her own gently defiant style. Lea's warm, funny, deeply-felt memoir addresses love and faith, sexuality and mortality, the frustration and the joy of difference. She shows how disability inspires and enables unique and indispensable contributions to the world, and reminds readers to think creatively, fight for what they love, and savor the journey.
Creative Team
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Gaelynn Lea
Gaelynn Lea is a composer, musician, and disability rights advocate. Since winning NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016, she has captivated audiences around the world with her haunting original songs and traditional fiddle tunes. She has opened for Wilco, The Decemberists, LOW, and the industrial rock supergroup Pigface. In 2022, she composed the music for Macbeth on Broadway, directed by Sam Gold and starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga. Lea is a sought-after public speaker on disability rights and accessibility in the arts. She has shared her perspective on PBS "NewsHour," "On Being" with Krista Tippett, "The Moth Radio Hour," "NowThis," "The Science of Happiness" Podcast, and via two widely-viewed TEDx Talks. Lea is currently working on a musical she conceived based on the documentary Crip Camp and produced by Michelle and Barack Obama.
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Matthew Sanford
Matthew Sanford is an expert in the process transformation through the healing power of yoga. Paralyzed from the chest down at age thirteen, Matthew knows firsthand the transformative effect that yoga can have on the mind-body relationship. He is an internationally recognized yoga teacher for people of all abilities, a sought-after public speaker, and founder of the non-profit Mind Body Solutions. He is the author of the critically acclaimed WAKING: A MEMOIR OF TRAUMA AND TRANSCENDENCE. He is also a collaborator with Bessel Van der Kolk (Trauma Research Foundation), featured presenter in both their certificate program in trauma studies and at the Boston Trauma Conference. For more information: www.mindbodysolutions.org