Sheila McCarthy stars in Sarah Polley’s Oscar-award winning film WOMEN TALKING for Plan B/MGM opposite Claire Foy, Judith Ivey, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Ben Whishaw, and Frances MacDormand. Other recent film credits include starring roles in Helen Shaver’s HAPPY PLACE for Sienna Films, and the little indie thriller that could ANYTHING FOR JACKSON with Julian Richings, supporting roles in the TriStar/Sony film BROKEN HEART GALLERY, the TIFF selected film LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE, and Norwegian director Bent Hamer’s film THE MIDDLE MAN which premiered at TIFF last year. Sheila won ACTRA’s Best Actress Award for her film CARDINALS opposite Noah Reid, which also premiered at TIFF. Recent TV credits include Netflix’s UMBRELLA ACADEMY, ABC’s THE GOOD DOCTOR, CBS’ STAR TREK: Discovery, and Jason Priestly starrer PRIVATE EYES opposite William Shatner.

June 28 - July 15, 2023

Monique Lund is thrilled to be once again collaborating with Here For Now Theatre, where she previously directed and designed Every Day She Rose, The Tracks, Infinite Possibilities, and WHACK! (Associate Director) She has been a professional actor, singer and dancer for over thirty years and has worked from coast to coast in Canada and the U.S, most recently appearing in Controlled Damage at The Grand Theatre, Meet My Sister at The Port Stanley Festival Theatre, Hairspray at Theatre Aquarius and Priscilla Queen of The Desert for Drayton Entertainment. Other selected credits include: The Broadway Tour of Mamma Mia in which she played the role of Donna, the original Toronto companies of The Lord of the Rings, Joseph, The Who’s Tommy, and Crazy For You. She has also spent 12 seasons at the Stratford Festival in a variety of plays and musicals and 4 seasons at the Charlottetown Festival.In 2017 she won the Brian Macdonald award for emerging directors at the Stratford Festival Guthrie Awards. She calls Stratford her home and she sincerely thanks you for supporting live theatre!

July 12th - 29, 2023

Jan Alexandra Smith is an actor, director and instructor based in Stratford. She lived here many years ago, moved around for a few decades, came to her senses, and moved back in March 2020. Timing could not have been worse for re-connecting with Stratford’s performing arts community, so developing a relationship with Here For Now has been a tremendous privilege. Jan directed Ellen Denny’s Take Care last summer and is back for Steve Ross’ Life Without. She has both staged and performed in productions ranging from mysteries to musicals, and contemporary to classical; she has enjoyed return engagements with the Shaw Festival, Theatre Calgary, The Citadel, Royal Alex, Charlottetown Festival, Royal Manitoba Theatre Center, The Grand and more. Currently, her passion is Movement Direction, which is a fancy way to describe how we tell stories with our whole bodies, and not just with our voices. Jan is an accomplished home renovator, dog and cat mum, and a graduate of Conestoga College’s Culinary Program

August 9th - Aug 26th, 2023

Murdoch Schon is a queer, nonbinary director, and digital innovator. Born and raised in Treaty One Territory (Winnipeg), they have been involved in the Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) English theatre scene for almost a decade. As a multidisciplinary theatre maker, they use puppetry, movement, and technology to build unique and immersive worlds. Murdoch is fascinated by provocation, vulnerability, and the role of risk and failure in art making. They believe that theatre rises to its true power through the practices of ritual liminality, community, and imagination. Murdoch insists on the wondrous nature of theatre as a transformative space where rulers fail, heroes rise and monsters seem more familiar than angels. Murdoch is a graduate of the Nation Theatre School Directing Program and has a BFA, Specialization in Theatre and Development, from Concordia University

September 6th - Sep 23rd, 2023

Kelli Fox is an actor/director with nearly 35 years on stages across Canada, and in the US, including 13 seasons with the Shaw Festival, and 3 seasons with the Stratford Festival. For two seasons (2017-2018) she served as Artistic Associate at Globe Theatre in Regina. Recent directing credits include Gaslight (Shaw Festival), and Between Riverside and Crazy (Coal Mine Theatre) for which she received a Dora nomination. As an actor, Kelli has also been recognized with a Jessie award (Keely & Du, Arts Club/Canstage), a Dora nomination (Top Girls, Soulpepper), a Capitol Critics Circle award (A Room of One's Own, Shaw tour), a Toronto Critic's Circle award (Penelopiad, Nightwood Theatre), as well as sharing a Dora with the Penelopiad ensemble. She was the 2016 recipient of the Gina Wilkinson Prize recognizing emerging directors transitioning mid-career

August 23rd - September 9th, 2023

Liza Balkan is a Stratford based multidisciplinary theatre artist and educator. For Here For Now, Liza wrote, directed and co – created with composer Paul Shilton, the song cycle So, How’s it Been?, inspired by interviews with Stratford residents during the first year of the pandemic. Favourite recent directing credits include Every Brilliant Thing, starring Rebecca Northan (Grand Theatre, London) Much Ado About Nothing (Canadian Stage /Shakespeare in High Park), Bonnie Green’s Meet My Sister (Lighthouse Festival ) and the Canadian Premiere of Anais Nin (Koerner Hall /Royal Conservatory of Music). Through a Residency at the Theatre Centre, she developed her documentary /verbatim project Out the Window. It was produced at Toronto’s Luminato Festival in 2018 and was recently published by Scirocco /JG Shillingford. Her collaborations as a librettist have been produced by Tapestry Opera, Five Boroughs Songbook ( NYC) Scrag Mountain Music (Vermont ), Bicycle Opera and Opera McGill. Most recently Liza wrote the text for composer Brian Current’s multi- Dora nominated vertical opera Gould’s Wall (Koerner /RCM / 21C Festival) and After the Fires, with composer Lembit Beecher (Brooklyn Art Song Society and Koerner /RCM ). As an actor, she has performed in productions across Canada and in the US, receiving a Dora Award for her performance in Still The Night (Theatre Passe Muraille/Tapestry) Liza continues her beloved practice as an educator and mentor. She has been a guest artist at Universities and Conservatories in Ontario, B.C. and Italy, and is also presently on faculty at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy, UAE.

July 20th - 22nd, 2023

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT SERIES

Chris Abraham has been the Artistic Director of Crow’s Theatre since 2007. For Crow’s he has directed numerous productions including The Watershed, The Seagull, Winners & Losers, Someone Else, Eternal Hydra, I, Claudia, and Boxhead. Chris has directed across the country including eight seasons at the Stratford Festival, including this year (Much Ado about Nothing) In 2003, Chris directed the film adaptation of Kristen Thomson’s award winning hit I, Claudia for which he won a Gemini award. In 2013, Chris was awarded the Siminovitch Prize, the most prestigious prize for a Canadian theatre artist.

July 4 - 9th, 2023

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT SERIES

Taylor Marie Graham (she/her) is an award winning playwright, librettist, and educator living in Cambridge, Ontario on the Haldimand Tract. She has an MFA in Creative Writing, is a PhD Candidate in Theatre at University of Guelph, and works as a sessional theatre professor at universities in Southwestern Ontario. Taylor’s plays and operas have been described as, “arresting and funny” (Slotkin), “an uncommonly cool theatrical experience” (MoT), “charmingly twisted” (Toronto Star), “searingly written” (Bill Mandel), “a nice ironic edge” (NOW), “dynamic, complex, and very funny” (Judith Thompson), “powerful, powerful, and courageous” (OnStage), and “one of the most exciting new Canadian plays I’ve seen in a long time” (StageDoor). In 2021, her critically acclaimed play Post Alice premiered at Here For Now, and this year Taylor is extremely grateful to be sharing two new works at the festival: Frog Song and Corporate Finch! www.taylormariegraham.com

July 20th - 22nd, 2023

I am a multi-disciplinary artist hailing from Salt Spring Island, BC. Professional credits include Movement Director on I F****d You My Spaceship (Vaults Festival- London, England), Stage Manager, Assistant Director, and Movement Director on various productions for Here for Now Theatre’s 2022 season (Stratford), Puppeteer on Storm (Vision Mechanics- Edinburgh, Scotland), Choreographer and Dancer on Stories That Transform Us (Urban Ink- Vancouver), Puppeteer on Sedna (Caravan Farm Theatre- Armstrong), Movement Director on Les Filles Du Roi (Raven Theatre and Fugue Theatre- Vancouver), and played Janet in Rocky Horror Show (Geekenders- Vancouver.) I am currently in the process of obtaining my MFA in Movement Directing and Teaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. It is so thrilling to be joining the Here For Now Theatre family for my second season, and having the opportunity to once again work alongside my sister, Lauren Bowler!

DescripNeha Ross is a Stage Manager currently working and residing in Tkaronto. Since graduating in 2008 from Theatre Tech at Sheridan Collage she has worked for various theatre companies across Canada. Neha’s love for the theatre and community has taken her across India, Canada and America with new Works. Born and raised in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates of Indian descent is now proud to call Canada home. Selected credits included: Stage Manager- Perceptual Archaeology (The Fire and Rescue Team with Crows Theatre); Mahabharata, Prince Hamlet, ICELAND (Why Not Theatre), Kamloopa, Bad Parent, Animal Farm, 27 Club, A Movable Feast: Paris in the 20s, A Very Soulpepper Christmas (Soulpepper Theatre); Mixtape (Crow’s Theatre); We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884 - 1915(Why Note Theatre with The Theatre Centre); Other Side of the Game (Cahoots Theatre & Obsidian Theatre); One Thing Leads to Another (Young Peoples Theatre); Brown Balls (fuGEN); People Power (Carlos Bulosan). Upcoming:Assistant Stage Manager- R + J (Stratford Festival), Kim’s Convenience, Cowboy Versus Samurai (Soulpepper Theatre); Hallaj (Modern Times Stage); The Birds and the Bees, The Wilberforce Hotel & Mary’s Wedding (Blyth Festival); The Taste of Empire, The Madness of the Square (Cahoots Theatre Projects); Lady in the Red Dress (fuGEN).tion goes here