Love Us Most Digital Program

HERE FOR NOW THEATRE

by Sara Farb June 17 - 28, 2026

WORLD PREMIERE www.herefornowtheatre.com 519.272.HFNT (4368)

WELCOME TO OUR 2026 SEASON I am thrilled to As the Executive welcome you to Director of Here an extraordinary For Now year of theatre.

Theatre, I am so Our 2026 season genuinely celebrates excited to be on curiosity, this journey with you. I have sat where you are courage, and the exhilarating sitting now, watching this artistry of taking bold creative company create something truly leaps. Each play in this year’s special, and I have felt the magic lineup is united by fearless that unfolds on this stage. imagination. These remarkable playwrights embrace risk in ways that feel fresh, daring, and deeply Together, we will continue our commitment to great actors, resonant. Their stories challenge thoughtful directors, strong expectations and invite us to see scripts, and performances that the world - and ourselves - from move us, now within this new perspectives. beautifully re-configured, intimate thrust space that brings As a company devoted to artists and audiences closer than developing new work, we believe ever before. theatre should be alive with possibility: a space where Thank you for believing in this work. Your support has made all boundaries are pushed, of this possible. With all of us narratives are expanded, and gathered here, sharing this space discovery happens night after night. This season embodies that and this moment, I know we will continue to create bold, powerful spirit. theatre in the Rose McQueen Performance Space, work that is I cannot wait to share these alive, daring, and deeply human. powerful stories with you.

Welcome to 2026.

Fiona Mongillo Artistic Director

Crystal L. Spicer Executive Director

LOVE US MOST

by Sara Farb What's it really like to be a woman in the theatre? Take a peek into this dressing room as King Lear's three leading ladies wade through the choppy waters of racism, ageism, and rampant sexism.

Set in the early autumn of 2016, Love Us Most is a biting, satirical look at what it takes for a woman to make it in what seems to remain a man's world.

A Note from the Artistic Director I absolutely love this script. In the spirit of Slings & Arrows, Love Us Most offers a hilarious and razor-sharp look at the complicated ecosystem inside a large-scale theatre institution - the ambition, the loyalty, the politics of who gets offered work and why, and the strange reality of an industry that is both deeply collaborative and intensely competitive at the same time.

Because we live in Stratford, a town with an extraordinary concentration of theatre artists and theatre lovers, this comedy lands in a way it simply couldn’t anywhere else. It’s affectionate, it’s biting, and it captures something very real about the dynamics of working in an environment where everyone cares deeply and the stakes always feel high. I think audiences here are going to recognize a lot in this production and laugh even more.

Fiona Mongillo Artistic Director Here For Now Theatre

Show Sponsor: Mary Hofstetter and David Riggs Production Supporters: Kim and Dave Thompson, In Honour of Diana Leblanc

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM Cast Kevin Bundy* Julian Jeffrey

Jasmine Case* The One Who Plays Cordelia

Zara Jestadt* The One Who Plays Regan

Shannon Taylor* The One Who Plays Goneril

Creative Team Sara Farb Playwright

Sabryn Rock* Director

Darren Burkett Lighting Designer

Thomas Ryder Payne Sound Designer

Ariel Slack Set Designer

Sam Snyders Stage Manager

Jennie Wonnacott Costume Designer

Running Time: Approximately 75 minutes, with no intermission Special thanks to Bruno Gonsalves.

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:

Love Us Most received development support from Here For Now Theatre Company in 2025, and had its world premiere production at Here For Now Theatre in 2026. *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 In the summer of 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, The Stratford Festival invited people on Twitter, using the hashtag InTheDressingRoom, to share their theatre industry experiences of racism and mistreatment. There followed a seemingly endless avalanche of stories, revealing a staggeringly flawed, deeply racist and sexist industry in desperate need of a reckoning. That conversation — those stories — is what compelled me to write this play.

This play is set in 2016 because it represents a moment before people started waking up: it’s before Trump’s first term; before the MeToo era; certainly before the social awakening we would all face in 2020. Over the last six years, I have seen genuinely moving strides by this industry to undo harmful operating systems — strides that, a mere ten years ago, would never even enter the minds of practically anyone in power at a theatre. But while it’s easy to look at 2016 — at this play — as a period piece, the truth is that even with all the work we’ve done and apparently continue to do, the industry is still broken and I have no idea if it will ever be fixed.

The people in this play are fictional. The events are fictional. They are inspired by the hair-raising stories shared by those people on Twitter, and by the countless stories we all hear, or witness, or experience, backstage.

Sara Farb Playwright

DIRECTOR’S NOTE I was drawn to this play because Sara has so beautifully and accurately captured the complexity of being an actor…a female actor…an aging actor…an actor of colour…and the many vulnerabilities that come with the territory. This is even more apparent when the territory you occupy is a large institution, with prestige (arguably), which therefore puts more pressure on the artists. To be a woman in such a place, to put it plainly, can break you. There is a scarcity mindset that arises because there are truly too few parts in the classical canon.

Oftentimes women get territorial out of fear and the conceptual ‘sisterhood’ gets obliterated. Further, it’s so easy to judge that your value is in your appearance, in how you present to the world, simply put, in your ‘looks’, which makes talent feel like a secondary consideration.

Coincidentally, the playwright and I had our first experiences doing rep theatre in Stratford back in 2013, before the global online reckoning with misogyny and racism impacted our artistic institutions and industries. It was a tumultuous time. There was new leadership, and there were institutional plants who had been here as long as the Festival Theatre itself. I found it to be an extremely difficult environment in which to thrive. I felt isolated: at moments exoticized, and in others compelled to swallow my blackness to execute ‘colourblind’ casting. Love Us Most resonates deeply for me. It is layered and messy and funny as hell. This directorial offering is my love letter to the young actress I was back then and to all the other female actors (special shout to female actors of colour) who are made to feel like they are too much, that they are not talented enough, not beautiful enough, not hard-working enough, who are “bending the truth”, or “doing it for attention”. It is addressed to all those who feel like they must overcompensate in politeness so that they don’t ruffle any feathers or heaven forbid(!) let the Angry Black Woman into the space. That trope, that woman, has made me the artist that I am today, and I strive to change things for the better in the rooms that I lead.

Show Sponsor: Mary Hofstetter and David Riggs

Stand in your power, speak up, take up your space. We need you more than ever.

Sabryn Rock

Director

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES KEVIN BUNDY - JULIAN JEFFERY Kevin Bundy’s recent theatre credits include: Eureka Day (Coal Mine Theatre), Twelve Dinners (Talk is Free Theatre), Forget About Tomorrow (Here for Now Theatre), Sequence (Thousand Islands Playhouse), The Bear and the Proposal (Caravan Farm Theatre), Cock (Talk is Free Theatre), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Ed Mirvish Theatre), Never Not Once (Theatre Aquarius), The Candidate/The Party (Citadel Theatre); The Wars, Chariots of Fire (Grand Theatre). He has participated in seven seasons at The Shaw Festival, five seasons at Stratford and over 20 productions with the Soulpepper Theatre Company. Kevin also performed as the Narrator in Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s Western Canadian tour of Circle of Creation. Some of Kevin’s recent TV & Film credits include The Princess and the Bodyguard, Nurses, Grand Army, Kim’s Convenience, Saving Hope, Designated Survivor, and the feature film Through Black Spruce. Kevin can also be seen in Murdoch Mysteries and the film The Unrestricted War. DARREN BURKETT - LIGHTING DESIGNER Darren is thrilled to be back for the whole summer season at HFN! Previous Design work: Apples in Winter [Set, Lighting and Costume], Dinner with the Duchess [Set in a co-pro with Crows Theatre], 12 Dinners [Set], Life Without [Set and Costume], The Fox [Set] (Here For Now), Legally Blonde [Set] (Metro Theatre), 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!

JASMINE CASE - THE ONES WHO PLAYS CORDELIA Jasmine is a Jamaican-Canadian actor born and raised in Toronto where she currently lives and works! She is a recent 2-time Dora Award winner for her work on productions; Truth at Young People’s Theatre and FLEX at Crow’s and Obsidian Theatre!

Recent Theatre Credits: Leticia in Clyde’s; Canadian Stage, Young Woman in A Profoundly…; Tarragon and Obsidian Theatre, Sidney in FLEX; Crow’s and Obsidian Theatre, YKara in Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner; Obsidian and Crow’s Theatre, Phoebe in Truth; Young People’s Theatre.

Training: National Theatre School of Canada 2023, Brock University 2020.

Thank you to my family and friends for the unconditional love and support through it all! And a special thank you to Sara for trusting me, and Sabryn for always seeing something special in me! <3

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES SARA FARB - PLAYWRIGHT Sara is an actor and writer. She wrote the book for the musical Kelly v. Kelly with Britta Johnson (music and lyrics) which premiered at Canadian Stage and Musical Stage Company in 2023; the show is a recipient of the Tom Hendry award and multiple Dora nominations. With Britta, she also co-wrote the Dora-nominated short musical He Is Coming. She wrote the book for the new musical Way Out There with Anton Lipovetsky (music and lyrics) which makes its premiere at YES! Theatre/Theatre Sudbury in spring of 2026. Her play, R-E-B-E-C-C-A, which she wrote and starred in, premiered at Theatre Passe Muraille. She is currently working on a new musical with Aaron Jensen (music and lyrics) about the forgotten female creator of the creature from Creature from the Black Lagoon. As an actor, Sara has performed on Broadway, in seven seasons at the Stratford Festival, and all over Canada. She makes her Shaw Festival debut as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in the 2026 season.

ZARA JESTADT - THE ONE WHO PLAYS REGAN Zara is an actor and performer and is absolutely thrilled to be making her Here For Now debut! She is a graduate of the Actors’ Conservatory at the Canadian Film Centre, the Stratford Birmingham Conservatory, George Brown Theatre School, Etobicoke School of the Arts, and McGill University. Favourite theatre credits include An Ideal Husband, Julius Caesar (Stratford Festival), Children of the Bear (Native Earth/Outside the March), Small Mouth Sounds (Segal Centre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare BASH’d). She currently stars in suspense thriller miniseries Phantom Line, currently available on Bell Fibe TV.

THOMAS RYDER PAYNE - SOUND DESIGNER Thomas Ryder Payne is a composer and sound designer for theatre, dance and film. Selected past theatre work includes designs for Stratford, Shaw, Mirvish, Soulpepper, CanStage, Tarragon, Factory, TPM, YPT, Crows, Modern Times, Aluna, BIBT, Theatre Gargantua, Nightwood, Toronto Dance Theatre, NAC, Centaur, Theatre Calgary, GCTC, RMTC, Grand Theatre and many others. Thomas has received 6 Dora awards.

SABRYN ROCK - DIRECTOR Sabryn Rock is an award-winning actor and director who has worked across the country on both screens and stage.

Most recently she directed Moonlight Schooner at Canadian Stage. Previously she directed Shaniqua in Abstraction (Crow’s Theatre), Truth (Young People’s Theatre), Sympathy for the Devil (Soulpepper Theatre), Our Place (Cahoots/Theatre Pass Muraille), Contractions and Eureka Day (Studio 180 Theatre). She is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre and the Actors' Conservatory at the Canadian Film Centre.

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES ARIEL SLACK - SET DESIGNER Ariel Slack is a multidisciplinary artist who writes, performs, and designs, and is currently Props Buyer at the Stratford Festival. Some theatre companies they have worked for as a set designer include Carousel Theatre, Geekenders, Tumbleweeds Theatre, Ensemble Theatre Company, the frank theatre, and 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/

SAM SNYDERS - STAGE MANAGER Sam is an emerging theatre artist from Mitchell, Ontario, glad to be back for his third season at Here For Now. Previously at HFN, Sam stage-managed Apples in Winter, Humour Me, Stick Around, The Saviour, and Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome, and sound-designed The Rules of Playing Risk. No stranger to the Rose McQueen Stage, Sam also played Aaron in last year's Forget About Tomorrow.

Other acting credits include Boris Trigorin in The Seagull (Strands of the Night), Pierre in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (AUTS McGill), Jason in Medea (Player's Theatre) and Moe in Pomona (Moyse Hall). Sam recently graduated from McGill University with a BA in English: Drama & Theatre. Thank you, always, to his family and friends for their constant support.

SHANNON TAYLOR - THE ONE WHO PLAYS GONERIL Shannon is excited to be a part of the Love Us Most team this summer! She has spent seven seasons at the Stratford Festival: King Lear (Goneril), Les Belles-Soeurs (MarieAnge), I Am William (Mary, Queen Elizabeth I), Mother’s Daughter (Mary), The Crucible (Elizabeth Proctor), Twelfth Night (Olivia), The School for Scandal (Lady Teazle), Shakespeare in Love (Viola), The Hypochondriac (Angélique). Other selected theatre credits include: Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome (Here For Now); Uncle Vanya (Crow’s Theatre & Mirvish); ROOM (Grand Theatre & Mirvish); A Doll’s House (RMTC); King Charles III (Studio 180 & Mirvish); The Road to Mecca (Soulpepper); Pride and Prejudice (NAC & Theatre Calgary); The Jones Boy (Surface/Underground); Little Women: The Musical (Citadel Theatre). Film and TV: The Terminal List, Don’t Hang Up, Private Eyes, MayDay. Training: Birmingham Conservatory; TMU Theatre School (BFA).

JENNIE WONNACOTT - COSTUME DESIGNER Jennie has enjoyed a two-decade theatre career as a costume cutter and tailor, designer and professor. As a theatre professional that takes joy in the success of her peers, Jennie recently made the switch to a career in art administration to assist in facilitating what artists do best!

Select design credits include 12 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 Alix Grice Dr. Patrick Smith

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 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 Foundation Sponsor The William and Nona Heaslip Foundation Season Sponsors Larry Beare Sylvia Chrominska Bill and Janet L’Heureux Kelly and Scott Morrison Beverly and Douglas Valentine Technical Equipment Sponsor Robert Lott and Dr. Anne Robinson Workshop and Development Sponsor Bob and Martie Sachs

Limited Engagement Series Sponsor Laura Dinner and Richard Rooney

Love Us Most Show Sponsor Mary Hofstetter and David Riggs Love Us Most Production Supporters Kim and Dave Thompson, In Honour of Diana Leblanc

Coming up next in 2026 ....

2026 CONTACT US 24 St Andrew St. Stratford, ON www.herefornowtheatre.com 519.272.HFNT (4368) @herefornowtheatreco

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