This Is Now was filmed in performance @ Studio 16 in Vancouver, BC on June 23, 2018; the full length performance and individual scenes can be viewed below. Filmed and edited by Mike Southworth and Doug Fury / collideentertainment.com
Two women, newly reacquainted childhood friends, embark on a road trip together. They are opposites on the surface: Sarah is organized and fretful, while Emily is spontaneous and untroubled. On the road, the spontaneous one leads, while the careful one is forced to grow.
Once they arrive in New Orleans, their roles and relationship become less clear-cut. Soon they separate, with Sarah returning home and Emily continuing on her adventure.
When they are seen some time later, each is dissatisfied with both the role she has been accustomed to playing and with the pendulum swinging entirely the other direction and so when the friends unexpectedly reunite, they each have realized that both ways of approaching life are needed to make a balanced personality. In other words, Emily could be a little more like Sarah, and Sarah could be a little more like Emily.
Ultimately they come to understand that they’ve always had a little of each other within themselves…their friendship has simply encouraged and given each of them permission to embrace the Emily and the Sarah in all of us.
Who is the lucky one? Who’s taken bigger chances?
Full Length Performance: THIS IS NOW
Scene 1: REALITY CHECK (2013)
That Was Then (Sarah)
When I Was 27 (Emily)
Scene 2: A BATHROOM (1998)
Scene 3: SARAH’S OFFICE (1998)
Is It Friday Yet? (Sarah)
Two Friends Pre-Roadtrip (Emily & Sarah)
Scene 4: ON THE ROAD (1998)
Drive, Drive (Emily & Sarah)
Let’s Move On (Emily)
Emily Says (Sarah & Emily)
Scene 5: A MOTEL IN NEW ORLEANS (1998)
Friends ‘Til the End (Emily & Sarah)
Scene 6: NEW ORLEANS (1998)
Two Friends in New Orleans (Emily & Sarah)
Scene 7: BAR IN NEW ORLEANS (1998)
I Keep Going (Emily)
Words by Terry Varney with additional lyrics specifically written for This Is Now by Kate MacColl; music by Terry Varney, Steve Mitchell and Kate MacColl
Scene 8: EMILY’S REVELATION (1998)
What Kind Of A Person? (Emily)
Scene 9: SAME BAR, NEXT DAY (1998)
Two Different Things (Emily)
Somebody Else Take the Wheel (Sarah & Emily)
Scene 10: SARAH’S TRANSITION (1998) / Scene 11: MONTHS LATER (1998)
Day 1 (Sarah) / What If? (Sarah & Emily)
Scene 12: A BATHROOM (2013)
One Foot in Front of the Other (Sarah & Emily)
Two Friends Reunite (Sarah & Emily)
Cast in order of appearance:
Emily – Kaja Tecza Sarah – Allegra Wright
Crew: Director – Sabrielle McCurdy / Play on Words Productions Stage Manager – Sarah Higgins Assistant Stage Manager – Madelaine Walker Lighting Designer – Jono Kim
Band: Piano – Kate MacColl Percussion – David di Tomaso