By Felipe Souza / Delta News Editor

The Missouri Valley College theater troupe will be performing, “Now. Here. This,” a musical that follows the evolution and adventures of a group of friends as they journey through time – from the present to the past and back again. They share their stories about friendship, hoarding, hiding, laughing, living, dying and middle school in an attempt to step directly into that elusive “present moment”: the Now. Here. This. 

“’Now. Here. This.’ is a concept musical exploring the importance of living in the present as opposed to dwelling on the past or fixating on the future. It asks us to live in the Now. Here. This. In the current climate we hear many people talking about how things were before the pandemic, and wanting to get back to the way things used to be.” Professor of Theatre Harold Hynick said. “They don’t recognize that the moment we are living now is the moment we have.” 

Even after MVC went through a campaign of vaccination, the performance will still follow safety precautions, which in this case brought some benefits and challenges.

“We started at the beginning of the semester, and we rehearsed during class three times a week for about 90 minutes. We’ve also had a few virtual rehearsal sessions with an outside singing coach in the New York/ New Jersey area,” Hynick said. “Trying to sing and act with masks has been the biggest challenge caused by Covid. Another challenge is the constant uncertainty. But, it also presented an opportunity in giving us the confidence and the expertise in being able to work with a vocal coach via Zoom and other virtual methods.”

Being faced with challenges leads to more effort and time, but the hardest goals that are accomplished, the better the result will be. 

“This production has been challenging in a good way! This is the first full musical that Missouri Valley has put together in my time here, and my classmates and I have worked really hard to put all the music, dialogue, and movement together for the audience. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done and I hope the audience enjoys it as well.” Actress Kaylee Herring said, “I think the audience will get a lot from this show. There are fun and goofy moments, but there are also very serious and hard moments in this production. I hope the audience will be able to see a part of themselves reflected on the stage and be able to see moments from their own lives portrayed honestly. I think every audience member will leave with a song stuck in their head and a moment that touched their heart.”

Now. Here. This will be performed Nov. 4 and 6, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Eckilson-Mabee Theatre located within the Technology Center.