The Here For Now Theatre, founded by artistic director Fiona Mongillo in 2012, is gearing up for a move into a new, permanent home in Stratford, Ont..Siobhan O'Malley/Supplied
An indie theatre company is moving into a permanent space in downtown Stratford, Ont., just down the street from one of the largest repertory theatre companies in North America.
It’s a bit of a David and Goliath situation. Goliath – the Stratford Festival – has a $120-million endowment, four well-groomed theatre spaces and a small army of staff. It’s an institution with decades of history, seemingly endless resources and measurable political sway.
David, on the other hand, is Here For Now Theatre, an independent company founded by artistic director Fiona Mongillo in 2012. In the years leading up to 2020, Mongillo produced occasional plays in pop-up venues around Stratford. When the pandemic hit, she moved the company outside for an open-air season. And in 2022, Here For Now took off, attracting attention from The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune with its compelling proposition: What if there was a professional theatre in Stratford that existed in dialogue with the Stratford Festival?
Now, more than a decade on from its inception, Here For Now is here to stay, with a sturdy reputation and a newly renovated permanent space on St. Andrew Street. The company recently reached its $480,000 fundraising goal, adding to its portfolio of government grants and project funding, and construction is well under way at the space Here For Now will call home for the next 15 years.
Andy Bicanic and Fiona stand in what will become the performance space in Here for Now's new home in Stratford.Siobhan O'Malley/Supplied
The site of Perth County’s former land registry office, the fully accessible studio theatre will seat 65 people, and will open in May, just in time for the company’s sixth summer season.
According to Mongillo, the space will fill a crucial gap in Stratford’s artistic landscape.
“We’re very much a counterpoint to the Stratford Festival,” Mongillo said in an interview. “We’re doing something entirely different. The Stratford Festival is doing these massively slick, high production value shows with huge casts. It’s an incredibly different beast.
“That’s why what we do is really bare bones,” she continued. “It’s humble. We focus on the writing and the acting.”
That focus on craft shines through the company’s 2025 summer season, a precursor to its soon-to-be-announced winter season, which will, in effect, be the first step to Here For Now becoming a year-round company.
The company recently reached its $480,000 fundraising goal to go along with government grants and project funding to support construction of the facility, which Here For Now will call home for the next 15 years.Siobhan O'Malley/Supplied
“I would love to see this company be a year-round company,” said Mongillo. “So we’re doing it. There’s going to be two seasons this year, with five shows in the summer and three in the winter. We’re doing a reading series for the first time.
“It would be great to see Here For Now move to a year-round structure, with a show that goes up every couple of months for the entire year,” she continued.
The 2025 summer season opens with Stick Around, a world premiere comedy by Goblin: Macbeth‘s Rebecca Northan that coincides with the opening of Here For Now’s new space.
Next is Vancouver native Jill Daum’s Forget About Tomorrow, directed in its Ontario premiere by Peter Pasyk. In July comes Humour Me, a world premiere comedy by Beverley Cooper, followed by the live stage premiere of Kristen Da Silva’s The Rules of Playing Risk and the Canadian premiere of Apples in Winter by Jennifer Fawcett.
The 2025 summer season for the theatre company opens with Stick Around, a world premiere comedy by Goblin: Macbeth‘s Rebecca Northan that coincides with the opening of Here For Now’s new space.Siobhan O'Malley/Supplied
Rounding out the season are two presentations of plays by Booth Savage and Joanna Rannelli, as well as staged readings of new plays by Stratford Festival star Steve Ross as well as Roy Lewis and Sarah Danielle Pitman.
“I want to make sure that when people work with us, they feel comfortable trying new hats,” said Mongillo. “It’s a company of taking risks, and following curiosities, and keeping it low-stakes.” Mongillo said that philosophy also dictates the theatre’s ticket prices: $30, which she insisted the company will not raise.
“We want to feel like we can take big risks and put things on that are still maybe a draft or two away from working,” she said. “It’s very much a playground for new plays, which I think is a really nice counterpoint to the Stratford Festival.”
Mongillo, an accomplished actor in her own right, has built an impressive little empire out of her once-impermanent theatre company. Two Here For Now shows, Girls and Boys and Dinner with the Duchess, have travelled to Toronto for presentations at Crow’s Theatre, and it seems likely more will follow. Mongillo’s solo performance in Girls and Boys, a gruesome tale of familicide and trauma, was “fully equal to anything in the big houses,” wrote the Chicago Tribune’s Chris Jones.
So, as she pursues other talents, will Mongillo still be running the Here For Now show when the new building’s lease is up in 15 years?
“I think for every healthy company, there comes a moment when the founding artistic director needs to step away,” she demurred. “I’m sure that moment will come, but certainly not any time soon, especially during this transition period as we get more and more established. I want to make sure I’m still at the helm so that things are continuing to develop the way they need to.
“Yes, ideally I’ll leave before I overstay my welcome,” Mongillo continued. “I think I’ll know the right time.”