The Stratford Festival may be a monolith in the Festival City, but it's not the only theatre company starting up this summer.
Here for Now Theatre is a bare-bones theatre company based in Stratford. Its 2023 season, a “Season of Mercy” begins at the end of June.
The name comes from the Ani DiFranco song of the same name and, as artistic director Fiona Mongillo explained, it perfectly captures their ethos.
“I liked it because it insinuates the fact that they’re all new plays that are being written for the moment, and also the fact that we move around.”
Mongillo and Siobhan O’Malley, the associate artistic director, spoke with StratfordToday about the company and what they are hoping for as the 2023 season prepares to start.
They also explained the company’s humble beginnings.
Started by Mongillo in 2012, the season would be sporadically produced throughout the years. In the early days the stories being told were generally about challenging or dangerous women, Mongillo explained.
It wasn’t until 2019 that the company began to pick up steam with Whack, a play about a young woman who hacks her husband to death with an axe in his sleep in the early 20th century, staged at the Knox Amphitheatre in Stratford. The play starred Mongillo, Olivia Viggianim and O’Malley, who first got involved with Here for Now during the production.
As Mongillo said, they were eager to keep that momentum going into the 2020 season.
“And then COVID hit,” Mongillo said. “We were like, ‘I guess we're not gonna be doing this.’ But because it was just a cast of three and we could do it in a very bare-bones sort of style, I found a place to do it outside.”
After adding shows, creating a full season of six productions, the 2020 season put the company “on the map,” as Mongillo said.
“We were sort of born out of the pandemic as a company because there was nothing else for people to do. It was a great leveller.”
Mongillo described the company as fish that are following a whale, in reference to the world-renowned Stratford Festival. Although sometimes difficult, having a certain level of infrastructure has helped them thrive.
“Because there's such a high ratio of amazing theatre artists here, it became a really viable thing to create this company that runs in a very different way than the Stratford Festival … It can be very hard to get noticed, because you have this overarching, huge (Festival), but we, as the little bottom feeders we were, just got in when the pandemic hit. It was also a lot of luck.”
Now in their fourth season, Here for Now is returning to outdoor shows, after last year’s season at the Falstaff Family Centre. This year they are setting up a stage surrounded by trees and wheat fields behind the Stratford Perth Museum.
“What we loved about the Falstaff was we were able to do these really beautiful, intimate shows that you can only do in a tiny black box room,” Mongillo said. “That being said, this year … we're gonna keep everyone really close and create as much intimacy as possible and an outdoor setting.”
O’Malley concurred, adding that this year’s shows lend themselves to an outdoor backdrop.
A path of lights will lead theatre attendees to the stage that’s nestled along the Walk through History trail. WiFi and electricity will be available to give the theatre everything they need. Both Mongillo and O’Malley praised John Kastner, general manager of the museum, for his hard work and generosity in getting the space ready for them.
This year’s theme is “Season of Mercy,” which focuses on the fallibility of human beings, the “messiness of life,” and how we can work to be gentler with each other knowing that.
There are six, one-act shows, five of which are world premieres.
A Season of Mercy
Starting off the 2023 season is the only non-world premiere: Myth of the Ostrich. The play is a comedy about a social call between two mothers that takes a turn. It is written by Toronto-based playwright Matt Murray and directed by Sheila McCarthy. It opens June 28 and runs to July 15.
Margaret Reid is about an encounter in a parking lot that turns into a decade-long entanglement with the titular character and two pre-teen public speakers, by Madeleine Brown, directed by Monique Lund. It runs from July 12-29.
Frog Song is a children’s opera in collaboration with the Stratford Symphony Orchestra. It is written by Taylor Marie Graham and William Rowson and directed by Liza Balkan. It runs July 26 until Aug. 12.
Life Without by Steve Ross follows a loving family as they try to move forward after tragedy strikes. It is directed by Jan Alexandra Smith and runs from Aug. 9-26.
The Fox is inspired by a D.H. Lawrence short story and is about two young women’s struggle for independence as men come home after World War One. It is written by Daniela Vlaskalic and directed by Kelli Fox. It runs from Aug. 23 until Sept. 9.
Queen Maeve closes the season. It is about an ordinary woman in a nursing home, transforming into an Irish warrior queen when triggered. Written by Judith Thompson it is directed by Murdoch Schon and runs from Sept. 6 until Sept. 23.
Aside from the showings, Here for Now will be presenting what they are calling “other offerings", including Mixtape: The Field Sessions by Zorana Sadiq.
Mixtape invites the audience into a life experienced through sounds, and an obsession with making them. It is directed by Chris Abraham.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit Here for Now’s website.
