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WELCOME TO OUR 2026 SEASON

courage, and the exhilarating artistry of taking bold creative leaps. Each play in this year’s lineup is united by fearless imagination. These remarkable playwrights embrace risk in ways that feel fresh, daring, and deeply resonant. Their stories challenge expectations and invite us to see the world - and ourselves - from new perspectives.

As a company devoted to developing new work, we believe theatre should be alive with possibility: a space where boundaries are pushed, narratives are expanded, and discovery happens night after night. This season embodies that spirit

I cannot wait to share these powerful stories with you. Welcome to 2026.

Fiona Mongillo Artistic Director

I am thrilled to welcome you to an extraordinary year of theatre. Our 2026 season celebrates curiosity, As the Executive Director of Here For Now Theatre, I am so genuinely excited to be on his journey with

where you are ching this company create something truly special, and I have felt the magic that unfolds on this stage.

Together, we will continue our commitment to great actors, thoughtful directors, strong scripts, and performances that move us, now within this beautifully re-configured, intimate thrust space that brings artists and audiences closer than ever before.

Thank you for believing in this work. Your support has made all of this possible. With all of us gathered here, sharing this space and this moment, I know we will continue to create bold, powerful theatre in the Rose McQueen Performance Space, work that is alive, daring, and deeply human

Crystal L. Spicer Executive Director

I AM AN ISLAND

by Julia Leder

May lives on a tiny island surrounded by friends, family, and the occasional martini-swilling ghost The only problem? May's island is sinking, and she can't get anyone to pay attention.

As May stages a very personal protest to bring attention to this looming disaster, we begin to see her struggles are not just external. What's really sinking here? And can May do what needs to be done before it's too late?

From the author of 2024’s smash hit With Love and a Major Organ

A Note from the Artistic Director

I am thrilled to welcome back the singular voice of playwright Julia Lederer for her second Here For Now production. I Am An Island is a wildly imaginative new play about survival, love, and the stories we tell ourselves to make this world livable when we are surrounded by socio-political and environmental forces that feel incomprehensibly large Set on a slowly sinking island where the community refuses to leave, the play follows May as she tries to convince those she loves that staying may not be the same as surviving. Lederer’s writing rides a delicate line between fable and reality: twins who balance light and shadow; a fiancé building hope out of balloons and platform shoes; a haunting grandmother with a martini in hand; and a chorus that insists, “ our island has been sinking since before our grandparents’ grandparents walked its soil.” I cannot wait to share this delightful world premiere with HFN audiences.

Fiona Mongillo

Artistic Director Here For Now Theatre

Show Sponsor: Lucille Roch

Production Supporters: Thomas R Verny and Sandra Collier

Linda MacDonald and Thomas Gray

Fiona Mongillo

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM

Cast

Nick Dolan*

Ben

Brianna Rodrigues

April

Creative Team

Julia Lederer

Playwright

Darren Burkett

Lighting Designer

Jennie Wonnacott

Costume Designer

Barbara Gordon* Grandmother

Kelly Van der Burg*

Sandra Siobhan O’Malley

May

Allison Plamondon* Director

Adam Campbell Sound Designer

Wendy Ewert

Stage Manager

Ariel Slack Set Designer

Running Time:

Approximately 85 minutes, with no intermission

Because of the close, immersive nature of our theatre, we’re unable to seat latecomers once the performance has started. For the same reason, we can’t offer re-entry if you step out during the show. We invite you to arrive early, settle in, and enjoy the full experience with us

For more information about the show and to see production photos scan the QR code:

I Am An Island is produced by permission of Julia Lederer.

*The participation of these Artists is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance-Opera-Theatre Policy (DOT)

PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE

I think a theatre is like an island; a world we inhabit together, even for a short time.

The idea for IAmAnIsland came from a conversation with a documentary filmmaker, Bex Kamara. She told me of a project she was working on about an island that is sinking, yet none of its inhabitants will leave.

This idea is terrifying and beautiful at once

When I write, it is always with a question I can't answer alone. Here, it is: “How do we live on a sinking world and maintain hope?”

I began writing IAmAnIsland at the Banff Centre, in a cabin shaped like a boat. I continued with Watering Hole Collective in Dallas, and then at Boston Court in Pasadena. This is the first production of this script. That it is here, in Ontario, means a lot, especially for a play so focused on home

The world premiere of anything is an experiment approached with passion, vulnerability, and hope Bringing an audience in transforms a play into something new. It is another terrifying and beautiful thing.

Thank you for coming to this island.

“All good things must begin.” – Octavia E. Butler

Let’s start.

Julia Lederer Playwright

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

How do we find hope in a sinking world?

When I first read Julia Lederer’s IAmAnIsland, I was struck by her ability to bounce between poetic language and bone dry wit with ease It’s a rare script that manages to find the lyrical within the absurd and I think Mr. Beckett would be proud.

We meet May at a breaking point, coming to terms with a harsh truth. Will the rest of her community face reality or will they remain in the comfort of denial? This play asks us to consider how we respond when the ground beneath us is no longer solid. It delicately navigates the complexities of human relationships while evoking the precarious state of our planet I am inspired by May’s resilience, the potential of rebirth, and the ever-present possibility for us all to reframe our own narratives.

Thank you for visiting our island.

Allison Plamondon Director

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

DARRENBURKETT-LIGHTINGDESIGNER

Darrenisthrilledtobebackforthewhole summerseasonatHFN!PreviousDesignwork: ApplesinWinter[Set,LightingandCostume], DinnerwiththeDuchess[Setinaco-prowith CrowsTheatre],12Dinners[Set],LifeWithout [SetandCostume],TheFox[Set](HereFor Now),LegallyBlonde[Set](MetroTheatre),

Wizard of Oz [Set] (Pulse Productions), Something Rotten, Seussical The Musical [Set], Mamma Mia! [Set and Lighting] (Secondary Characters), and multiple set and lighting designs for dance and theatre schools in Vancouver. As an actor, he has worked across the globe. Many thanks to the whole HFN team for the unwavering trust in me, and his family, friends and especially Hunter for their never ending love and support!

ADAMCAMPBELL-SOUNDDESIGNER

AdamCampbellisaDora-nominated composer,sounddesignerandmusician. OriginallyfromSummerside,PrinceEdward Island,Adamhasworkedassound designer/composerwithStratfordFestival, BlythFestival,HumanBodyExpression, TarragonTheatre,CanadianStage,HereFor

Now Theatre, Edmonton Opera, Capitol Theatre and more. Adam made his Here For Now debut as sound designer and composer for 2025’s Reproduktion, and is thrilled to join HFN for several productions this season. Adam has toured and performed throughout North America as a percussionist with TorQ Percussion Quartet and Ladom Ensemble, and regularly plays in the pit for musical theatre productions with companies such as Mirvish Productions and Stratford Festival In 2019, Adam released his debut solo singer-songwriter album, Guess I’m A People Too, featuring a mix of folk, rock and 90’s-tinged original music. Adam currently lives in Stratford, Ontario, with his wife Alice and their cats Ninja and Nazca.

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

NICKDOLAN-BEN

SelectedCredits:BillyCaneinBrightStar (Mirvish),GordoninRent,PrinceEscalusin Romeo&Juliet,SethSoakeminLondon Assurance(StratfordFestival);JasonPowersin TheLouderWeGet(TheatreCalgary);Sloane ShermaninKillingTime,DeaninIrisSays Goodbye(MixtapeProjects);Demetrius/Snout

in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Driftwood Theatre); Andrej in Once Theatre St. John’s); Jonathan Harker in (Written in Blood (Talk is Free Theatre). Film/TV: Partum; recurring principal on Locke & Key; No. 8 Reporting. Training: BFA, Toronto Metropolitan University. Et cetera: Special thanks to Mia at The Characters, to my brother Sean and parents Jen and John, and to my partner Sara. I love you all.

WENDYEWERT-STAGEMANAGER

DelightedtobebackasStageManagerwith HereForNow!Paststagemanagement experienceincludesvariouswithHereForNow; numerousshowsforsummerseasonsand fundraisersatVictoriaPlayhousePetrolia; A StratfordChristmas(StratfordArtsandCulture Collective);ILoveaPiano,HollywoodSings

(Drayton Entertainment); Dracula: A Chamber Musical, Ballycroy (INNERchamber); Starbright Christmas (Stratford Festival, Imperial Theatre, VPP); and various for D2 Entertainment and Musical Theatre Productions.

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

BARBARAGORDON-GRANDMA

Barbarahasspentover50happyyearsasan actressinCanada.Shehasperformedin theatresacrossthecountry,fromtheBelfry, thePlayhouse,Citadel,Downstage,Theatre CalgaryandAlbertaTheatreProjects,The Globe,RMTC,PrairieTheatreExchange, Centaur,2B,andMulgraveCoop,toevery

major Toronto theatre, most recently as Polonius in Why Not Theatre’s tours of Prince Hamlet.

Selected work in television includes The Testaments, Boston Blue, The Boys, Best Laid Plans, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Wonderland, and several Hallmark MOWs

Film work has included Learning to Love Again, Skinwalkers, Hyper Cube, Men with Brooms, Dead Ringers, Three to Tango.

She is married to writer Douglas Rodger and has two children, Melody and Dougal and two brilliant grandchildren. She enjoys volunteer work and life at the cottage.

JULIALEDERER-PLAYWRIGHT

Anacclaimedwriter,Julia'splayshavebeen producedacrossNorthAmericaandin Europeandherfilmshavescreenedatfestivals includingSXSW,TIFF,andPalmSprings. Recentproductions:Gather(withJulieRitchey, MTYP),FLIES(BombshellDanceCollective@ Dallas’AT&TPerformingArtsCenter),and

With Love and a Major Organ (Here For Now). Now often in LA, she is developing The Minister of Loneliness in Circle X Theatre’s Evolving Playwrights Group. Julia's award-winning feature film adaptation of With Love and a Major Organ, is streaming on Fandora (CAN) and Prime (US) Upcoming: With Love @Cyrano's Theatre in Alaska.

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

SIOBHANO’MALLEY-MAY

SelectedTheatreCredits:JillBanfordinThe Fox,JessicainSpit,BelleinPostAlice,RoryinA HundredWordsforSnow,RueinWhack!(Here ForNowTheatre);ElizaDoolittleinPygmalion (GuildFestivalTheatre);FannyinMaryof ShantyBay(TheatrebytheBay);Maryin Mary’sWedding,HelenainAMidsummer

Night’s Dream (Festival Players of Prince Edward County); Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (The SecretShakespeare Series); Catherine Givings in In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), Martha in Spring Awakening, Rosalind in As You Like It, and Yelena in Uncle Vanya (The Lir) Training: Honours BA in Acting, The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art (Trinity College Dublin/RADA). Siobhan is an Artistic Associate and Marketing Coordinator with Here For Now Theatre.

ALLISONPLAMONDON-DIRECTOR

Allisonispassionateaboutdirectingnew works.CanadianhighlightsincludeWalking Home(TheatreCentre)and writer/director/choreoforAndINever StoppedDancing(SmileTheatre).NewYork CitypremieresincludeMemoryHome(HB StudioResidentArtist),What’sYOURProblem?!

(Wild Project/Ars Nova), The Greater and Lesser Edmunds of the World and President’s Day (both for Greenhouse Ensemble), and director/choreo/concept for The Tchaikovsky Vignettes (HB Studio Resident Artist) She also directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the 14th St Y. Allison is a member of the first all-female creative team to receive Opera America’s Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer prize (2021-22) for Orfeo Ed Euridice and was the apprentice director on Orphee+ with Edmonton Opera. Also a choreographer, highlights include Kimberly Akimbo (Segal/Mirvish), White Christmas, Damn Yankees, and Holiday Inn for the Shaw Festival, as well as choreography for the Oscar-winning short film, Curfew. OffBroadway assistant work includes Make Mine Manhattan (Associate, Connelly Theatre), Freckleface Strawberry (Associate, New World Stages) and an SDCF Observership with Kathleen Marshall on Bells Are Ringing for City Center Encores.

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

BRIANNARODRIGUES-APRIL

AfterparticipatinginNotJustEmptySpace’s readinglastsummer,Briannaisbothso excitedandsohonouredtobereturningtothe HereForNowtheatrestagesansscriptinher hands!GrowingupinMontreal,Brianna’s biggestpassioninlifewasthearts,which meantshealwaysknewshewantedtobea

ARIELSLACK-SETDESIGNER

ArielSlackisamultidisciplinaryartistwho writes,performs,anddesigns,andiscurrently PropsBuyerattheStratfordFestival.Some theatrecompaniestheyhaveworkedforasa setdesignerincludeCarouselTheatre, Geekenders,TumbleweedsTheatre,Ensemble TheatreCompany,thefranktheatre,and part of what makes theatre so special. Be it through acting, singing, or lightly tapping her toes, she loves to entertain. Some of her other credits include Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Cat in the Hat in Seussical! The Musical. She would like to thank her partner and parents for their endless support, and Fiona Mongillo for giving her this chance to do what she loves.

now Here For Now! Ariel has also been an assistant designer at the Stratford Festival on 5 shows, and was the winner of the 2022 Cultchivating the Fringe Award (Vancouver Fringe Festival) for their one person show How to Believe in Anything. They are a Jessie Award nominee, an Ovation Award winner, and completed their first international tour with Tumbleweeds Theatre's show A Little Green Leaf last fall. Proud associate member of ADC and Studio 58 grad. See more at: https://arielslack.squarespace.com/

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

KELLYVANDERBURG-SANDRA

SelectedCredits:BuyingTheFarm(Drayton Entertainment),PerfectWedding(Upper CanadaPlayhouse),RenovationsforSix (Aquarius),RomeoandJuliet,AMidsummer Night’sDream(LeroyStreetTheatre). Film/TV:Borje(Crave),Heartland(CBC), DesignedWithLove(Lifetime),Decoys(CBC

Gem), Cardinal (Netflix), IT: Chapter 2 (WarnerBros), The Kennedys After Camelot ( Reelz), and Canadian Indie Feature Body and Bones. Training: BA in Theatre; Bishop’s University. Graduate of the CBC Actor’s Conservatory. Et cetera: Thank you to Christo, Reaney and Clarence for your support and love

JENNIEWONNACOTT-COSTUMEDESIGNER

Jenniehasenjoyedatwo-decadetheatre careerasacostumecutterandtailor,designer andprofessor.Asatheatreprofessionalthat takesjoyinthesuccessofherpeers,Jennie recentlymadetheswitchtoacareerinart administrationtoassistinfacilitatingwhat artistsdobest!Selectdesigncreditsinclude12

Angry Men and Steel Magnolias (Drayton Entertainment), and The Magic Flute (UWO). Jennie has surpassed 24 seasons at the Stratford Festival in wardrobe production. She is the 2016 recipient of the Pauline McGibbon award, and recently completed an MA is Arts Leadership from Queens University.

HERE FOR NOW THEATRE

Founded in 2012 by Artistic Director Fiona Mongillo, Here For Now Theatre began as a pop-up company in Stratford dedicated to bold contemporary plays and underrepresented voices. With a focus on intimate, actor-driven productions, the company quickly established a reputation for fearless storytelling and powerful performances

In 2020, while theatres across the country were closed, Here For Now launched a groundbreaking outdoor repertory season on the lawns of The Bruce Hotel. The innovative season drew national attention and critical acclaim, creating a unique gathering place for artists and audiences at a time when live theatre felt especially vital.

In the years that followed, the company continued to grow its national profile, commissioning and developing new plays while building a loyal and expanding audience.

In 2025, Here For Now opened its permanent 60-seat home in the beautifully restored Perth County Registry Office and unveiled the Rose McQueen Performance Space.

Today, Here For Now produces year-round programming that champions daring new work and the immediacy of live performance, bringing audiences together for powerful, intimate theatre in the heart of Stratford.

Fiona Mongillo | Artistic Director

Crystal L. Spicer | Executive Director

Marie Farsi | Interim Associate Artistic Director

Siobhan O’Malley | Artistic Associate & Marketing Coordinator

Adam Steinbach | Technical Coordinator

Jocelyn Nicholson | Social Media & Audience Experience Coordinator

Mark Uhre | 2026 Season Artwork

Sara-Jeanne Hosie | Show Images

Ann Baggley | Production Photography

Siobhan O’Malley | Promotional Photography

Jocelyn Nicholson and Fawn Adair| Trailers

Tabworks | Bookkeeping & Payroll

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Susan Moffat | Chair

Frances O’Malley | Past Chair

Jessica B. Hill | Artist Representative

Laura Dinner | Treasurer

Jo-Dee Burbach | Secretary

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We acknowledge that our theatre stands on the traditional territory of the Anishnabek, Haudenosaunee, and Ojibway/Chippewa peoples. We recognize the enduring presence and deep artistic traditions of Indigenous communities in this space and across Turtle Island

As storytellers, we honour the generations of knowledge keepers, artists, and caretakers who have shaped this land’s history. We commit to listening, learning, and building meaningful relationships as we share and celebrate the power of theatre, and invite you to do the same.

Thank you to our Sponsors

FoundationSponsor

TheWilliamandNonaHeaslip Foundation

SeasonSponsors

LarryBeare

SylviaChrominska

Billand JanetL’Heureux

KellyandScottMorrison

BeverlyandDouglasValentine

TechnicalEquipmentSponsor

RobertLottandDr AnneRobinson

Workshop and Development Sponsor