Check In From Away Episode 25
	AUDIO		VIDEO	
STEFFI: Hi everyone, I'm Steffi D. 	Lisa and Steffi appear in different chat windows on screen	
LISA: And I'm Lisa H. 		
STEFFI: And welcome to Check In From Away. 		
LISA: This week we are celebrating love, Valentine's Day, and checking in with our favorite showmance couples. 		
STEFFI: Thanks for joining us! 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	CREDITS SEQUENCE
TEXT: Check In From Away with Steffi D. and Lisa H.
Steffi and Lisa’s windows slide together and they mime clinking their mugs together.	
STEFFI: Hey Lisa, guess what? 		
LISA: What? 		
STEFFI: It's officially season two of check-in from away! Oh my gosh Lisa, what is that? 		
LISA: It's our official check-in from away mug, celebrating season two. 		
STEFFI: Oh, do you mean this mug, that has our faces on the back? 		
LISA: Are we famous yet? 		
STEFFI: I really hope so Lisa, because who knew that at this point we would still be in a lockdown, still be in a pandemic, and still be in isolation? 		
LISA: I know, we were so naive to think that this was going to be over by the summer. Regardless, we have had 24 amazing episodes. I get to do the show with someone I love dearly, and today we are celebrating love. We're talking Valentine's Day, we are chatting with our favorite showmance couples. 		
STEFFI: Lisa, you said you were doing the show with someone you love dearly. Is it me Lisa, is it me? 		
LISA: Honestly, I was thinking about Oscar, but yeah it could be you. 		
STEFFI: Lisa, you're breaking my heart! But seriously, will you be my valentine? (HUSHED) Thanks Lisa, love you Lisa. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
JACK: Hi, everybody. So happy to be here with my former Come From Away company members, Lisa and Steffi, with my husband Sergio Trujillo. I am an actor, obviously. I was in this fabulous show with these wonderful people. And I'm currently a development officer at Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS here in New York City. So that's me, what about you? 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Jack Noseworthy – performer
Sergio Trujillo – director/choreographer	
SERGIO: Hi I'm Sergio Trujillo, and I am a director-choreographer here in New York City. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: And a Tony and Olivier Award winner (no big deal)	
LISA: Jack I don't know if you remember this, but I was a young girl growing up in Sudbury, Ontario and had a massive crush on this lead in the music video. 		
[MUSIC - BON JOVI, "ALWAYS"] 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “Always” Bon Jovi
Jack appears in the music video for Bon Jovi’s Always	
(SINGING) Yeah I will love you baby. 		
LISA: And wouldn't you know, that it was about six months into our contract of Come From Away that I realized that 14-year-old me had been lusting after you, Jack Noseworthy. 		
TRACEY: Hi, I'm Tracey Flye. I am a director and choreographer. I was a performer for a million years, but some years ago jumped the fence and went to the creative darkness. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Tracey Flye – director/choreographer	
JANINE: Hi, I'm Janine. I worked as a child chaperone, which means that I looked after the child actors on productions. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Janine Crawford – child chaperone
Jeremy Crawford – performer	
JEREMY: Hi, and I'm Jeremy Crawford, and I am an actor. 		
JONATHAN: Hey, I'm Jonathan Andrew Hume, and I play Kevin J, Ali, and others in the London production of Come From Away. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Jonathan Andrew Hume - performer	
AARON: Hi, I'm Aaron. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Aaron Hastelow – performer
Colton Curtis – performer	
COLTON: And I'm Colton 		
AARON: And we're fiancees, and we are both performers. Or were performers when we were allowed. And-- 		
COLTON: We're currently in Prince Edward Island. 		
STEFFI: We have to talk about this. You two have been in a Roots ad recently together celebrating your love. Can you talk a little bit about that experience? 	Image of Andrew and Colton in a Roots ad	
COLTON: Because of the pandemic, a lot of castings that were going out looking for real life couples, obviously, instead of actors. So we went to this audition and it was the most fun audition ever. We sat on the floor and cuddled in front of a photographer, and they were like, great, now you can do it all again in Roots clothes in the middle of this gorgeous field. It was awesome. 		
KATE: Hi, I'm Kate Sandeson. I'm based in Toronto, Ontario and I'm a stage manager about town I guess. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Kate Sandeson – stage manager	
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	TEXT ON SCREEN: The Greatest Showmance	
[MUSIC PLAYING]	TEXT ON SCREEN: SHOWMANCE: A Showmance is a romance that develops between two individuals in theatre for the running period of the show	
SERGIO: So when I joined Jerome Robbins' Broadway in December of '89, 	Image of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway playbill	
SERGIO: I met Jack and I immediately fell in love with him. I was still trying to figure out whether I was gay or straight, I wasn't sure yet. As a matter of fact, I just read my diary from back then and some of my thoughts, and so on and so forth.	Photo of Jack and Sergio in 1989	
JACK: Let's tell the story of me walking down the stair. 		
SERGIO: Oh, I don't remember. 		
[INTERPOSING VOICES] 		
JACK: Because we were in the Imperial Theatre By the way, which is where Sergio just won a Tony Award for Ain't Too Proud. So-- 		
[INTERPOSING VOICES] 	Photo of Sergio on red carpet with Tony Award	
SERGIO: No, they had converted the entire basement of the imperial Theatre into a dance studio where we could all warm up, because the show was a big dance show. 		
JACK: Monster. 		
SERGIO: And I remember I was warming up, and coming down the stairs comes really handsome, this beautiful blond boy. And I just looked at him and I thought, oh my god. It was instant, like Cupid just went boop. And I fell madly in love with him, but he was my friend, and he was also trying to figure out whether he was gay or straight. 		
JACK: I had a girlfriend at the time, we were young, we were working it all out. 		
SERGIO: We were best friends, were best buddies, but I never, ever wanted to cross that line. So we remained great friends until the moment when we went to do the show at the Cleveland Playhouse. By the way, our great friend Jerry Mitchell was the choreographer of that show. And, go ahead. 		
JACK: So we're at the Cleveland Playhouse in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and we were-- 		
SERGIO: We used to wrestle during lunch hour. 		
JACK: Yeah, well we were obviously really attracted to each other, but no one said anything. So on our lunch hours we would literally wrestle, and so of course the whole company was like, what is happening over there? We realized that we were really attracted to each other, and that's the show that we got together on, and we've been together ever since. So we consider our anniversary what is it? October what? 		
SERGIO: October 23. 		
JACK: October 23, 1990. But we often messed it up, because we got married on October 21 in 2011, so it's just a couple of days away. So October is our anniversary. We just celebrated 30 years together. 		
TRACEY: I have known Paul for a while, as he is a phenomenal musician and often plays in pit bands, but only to lean over and go, hey, nice to see you. So we really formally met in the end of 2016, the beginning of 2017 on the Ross Petty Panto. We actually started talking at the closing night party of the show. And unfortunately, Paul had been married for 20 years and had lost his wife to cancer. So he was a widower. 	Photo of Tracey with her arms around Paul	
So we met at the closing night party. Struck up a conversation, I checked in with him about how he was doing, how his heart was, how the kids were. And at the end of the night, when we were leaving, he asked me if sometime if I would like maybe to go for a coffee or a drink. And I read nothing into it as a date because I knew what had happened. I didn't know where he was in his process. So we ended up going out for a drink and that was that. 		
My great happiness came at a price for him, at a loss for him. But I think between the two of us, it was the right time and we found each other for the right reasons. 		
JEREMY: But we met on the Heart of Robin Hood in 2014? 		
JANINE: Yeah. 		
JEREMY: 2014. We were engaged in 2016. Yeah? Yeah, yeah, engaged in 2015, married in 2016. 	Photo of Janine and Jeremy on the red carpet for The Heart of Robin Hood	
JANINE: We went to Winnipeg to do a short run there. And I feel like it was in Winnipeg that we really got to know each other, because everyone was in the same building and it was winter so it was freezing cold. So just in the evenings, we would play cards and hang out and share meals together. And so I guess we bonded through that and got to know each other. And we were quite secretive I would say, for a while. 		
JEREMY: A good while, I think. 		
Really cold in Winnipeg. And we didn't want to venture out too much because it was-- 		
JANINE: Or too far. 		
JEREMY: --or too far. And I didn't know the area, being originally American. So I'm like, I don't know Canada at all anyway, let alone Winnipeg. All I knew about Winnipeg was the Jets because I like hockey. I didn't know what to do, but I wanted to ask her out, and I want to have a formal date. And so I asked her out to dinner. And-- [LAUGHS] 		
JANINE: At Boston Pizza. [LAUGHS] 		
JEREMY: It was the only place around! It was the only place around that I'm like, I know what they serve there, I know how far it is, and I knew the direction and the underground way to get to that Boston Pizza. So I don't have to look and find other places, (HIGH-PITCHED) that should work. So unfortunately, our first date was at a Boston Pizza. 		
JONATHAN: We probably met in like 2004. We were both working on the London production of The Lion King, and she was working in the makeup and wigs department as a makeup and wig assistant. And at the time I think I was a swing and Simba understudy in the show in London. And we met and we became friends. 	Photo of Jonathan and wife	
And I had actually been offered the role of Simba in The Lion King in a brand new production, which was opening in Singapore. And by that point we were still best friends, obviously, and there was this huge distance between us. And in that time I had developed secret, or not so secret to everybody else apart from myself and my wife, crush on her. And the distance was killing me, we'd be on the phone and I'd get off and-- I'm a super romantic by the way-- I'd get off the phone with her and I have this pain in my heart of oh my gosh, I miss her so much! And I wish she was here! 		
And as fate would have it, everything kind of aligned because a makeup artist on the Singapore company of the show dropped out at the very last minute, like a couple of weeks before we were due to start rehearsals. And there was this huge panic of who are we going to have? We need someone who is knowledgeable of the show. And I knew of this information, and I just picked up the phone I was just like, hey, Ro, my wife's name is Rowina, and I was like hey Ro, this is happening in Singapore. How about you just give them a nudge and say that you're available? 		
And then literally, within one week she'd flown back to London, she'd done all of her visas, she'd done everything else. And by the time I got out to Singapore, she was making her way to Singapore, and then we met together. And it was this big reunion, I was like oh my gosh I miss you so much! And that's where things kind of changed. We blossomed into this new relationship which then ended up in marriage, and our now 11 month turning one year child. 	Photo of Jonathan and his wife strolling down a path on their wedding day	
COLTON: Well, we actually went to the same college. So when I was in first year of college, Aaron was in third year of college, and we barely crossed paths. And then three years later, we ended up doing a show together. It was a little show all about love called Sweet Charity at the Shaw Festival, and you had been there for three seasons and it was my first season, and, yeah. Close to the beginning of that contract is when we-- 	Very old photo of Aaron and Colton at a party	
AARON: I think we just had a connection really quickly, and a comfort with each other that was really unspoken. I remember one day in rehearsal just going and going like this, and leaning on him, and I'm not that kind of person at all. 		
[INTERPOSING VOICES] 		
COLTON: I was going um, we're at work! But you asked me. 		
AARON: Yeah. 		
COLTON: So that's the short answer. It was a secret at the beginning, and it started, Aaron was like, do you want to be boyfriend kind of thing? And I was like, I guess kind of thing, OK let's try it out! And I remember I was so nervous. It was my first gig out of college, so I had this notion that if I started dating someone I was working with, that's so taboo. You're not going to be taken seriously. So I was like, oh my god! I remember one of the first dates we had, I apologized after. I was like, I can't believe I went on a date with you, I'm so sorry! 		
AARON: I was like, I asked. 		
KATE: Kyle and I met each other in 2011, which feels crazy, it's almost nine years. I was an apprentice stage manager on a show, Two Pianos Four Hands. And Kyle was a stagehand on the show, so he was on deck dealing with any kind of automation or prop stuff. And we got to hang out a lot backstage, it wasn't a very busy show. 	Very old photo of Kyle with his arm around Kate	
LISA: And also, you guys met at a Mirvish theatre, at the Panasonic Theatre, right? 		
KATE: Yeah, exactly. I walked in and saw his little hat and ears sticking out on stage, and I said that's mine. 		
LISA: [LAUGHS] 		
KATE: Very quickly, I forced Kyle into a relationship. The longer version is, he was my go-to contact on deck for any kind of big physical stuff that needed to happen. And the show was a fantastic show, but I didn't have a lot of cues, and neither did he, so we really just got to sit backstage. It was only the two of us, and we could whisper very quietly. The backstage was about this big, you know what I mean? So we just got to sit there for a couple of hours every day and hang out. 		
I definitely asked him out first. And I would do horrible things, like ask him before we were supposed to go out for an intermission change, I'd be like so what are we? Like that kind of-- [LAUGHS] He was into it, but he was like, we're working right now Kate, this is not the time. [LAUGHS] 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	TEXT ON SCREEN: First Kiss	
JACK: He was sitting by the window, and we were sitting there talking, and I was literally sitting on the arm of the sofa, and he was sitting on the floor, right? 		
SERGIO: I was folding [INAUDIBLE] 		
JACK: He was sitting there and we were talking and I said to him, I'm so attracted to you right now, and I'm going to kiss you. And I leaned in and I kissed him, And I've been kissing him ever since. 		
[CLAPPING] 		
That's the God's honest truth, that's a true story. And that was it. 		
TRACEY: He actually asked me. Paul is a real gentleman, and he always laughed because he said, you know, I never thought I'd be in a position at 58 to be looking at dating someone. That was not what he wanted to do, he has two children. But he was, and he kept thinking, well what am I going to do? What do you do, do you ask somebody? Just lean in, what's etiquette these days? What really happens? So he asked me. He asked me if he could kiss me, and so that's what happened. 		
JANINE: One show, Jeremy got quite injured. 		
JEREMY: Oh, yeah. 		
JANINE: And so he had to get stitches and it was a big thing. And so I went to his room in Winnipeg to play nurse and just make sure he was OK. And I think that moment was probably the first kiss. 		
JEREMY: Yeah. That actually makes a lot of sense. I think that was as well. So it was probably that night. 		
JONATHAN: Just the moment before our first kiss, I know it just took probably like 20 minutes for me to actually get the courage to actually go in there. And my wife tells me afterwards, she says, I was just sitting there thinking, is he going to do it? What's going to happen, this is taking so long. Just kiss me already! 		
COLTON: Oh, I remember too! [LAUGHS] 		
AARON: This is going to make me so nostalgic for the non-COVID days, but we were on a party bus. 		
COLTON: It was someone's birthday and we were on a party bus. Oh my god. 		
AARON: So like, sounds a bit trashy too, but it was a [INAUDIBLE]. It was the only time I've ever been on one, and we had so much fun. And there's a photo of me kissing you on the cheek, and then we definitely did kiss later that night. 		
KATE: I think our first kiss was outside of that raba, which is such not a romantic spot. You know the raba around the corner from the Panasonic? I'm pretty sure he initiated, he's that kind of guy. But I was obviously into it, let's be honest about the situation. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Favourite Love Songs	
[MUSIC - BRUNO MARS, "JUST THE WAY YOU ARE"] 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “Just the way you are” – Bruno Mars
Image of Bruno Mars’ “Doo-wops and Hooligans” album cover	
JACK: He's about to change his gender. 		
(SINGING) Oh, her eyes-- 		
JACK: (SINGING) His eyes-- 		
BRUNO MARS: the stars look like they're not shining. Her hair-- 		
JACK: His hair-- 		
BRUNO: [INAUDIBLE] ever shining. 		
JACK AND SERGIO: (SINGING) You're so beautiful, and I love him every day. 		
[MUSIC - BRUNO MARS, "JUST THE WAY YOU ARE"] 		
SERGIO: Oh! 		
JACK: That, so that one. So then mine would be, what's the song from Jersey Boys? 		
SERGIO: Oh, Can't Take Your Eyes? 		
JACK: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. (SINGING) You're just too good to be true, 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “Can’t take my eyes off of you” – Frankie Valli
Image of Frankie Valli solo album cover	
SERGIO: Aw. 		
JACK: I can't take my eyes off of you. That, so that's [INAUDIBLE] 		
TRACEY: I love Earth, Wind, and Fire's That's The Way Of The World, because I love the message behind it. I also love the song At Last, by Etta James. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “That’s the way of the world” – Earth, Wind & Fire
Image of Earth, Wind & Fire album cover
TEXT ON SCREEN: “At Last” – Etta James
Image of Etta James album cover	
JEREMY: We have, I think, two. Both were involved with our wedding, and involved with our show. And they revolve around Parsonsfield. So the first would be the song that Janine walked down the aisle to. If they saw The Heart Of Robin Hood, the song at the very end of the show, where Robin and Marian get married, that was the song that Janine walked down the aisle to. And so that, I think, is a very important song to the both of us. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “Hot air balloon” – Parsonsfield
Image of Parsonsfield’s “Blooming through the black” album cover
Image of Janine and Jeremy leaning towards a kiss on their wedding day	
JANINE: Yeah. 		
JEREMY: Yeah. 		
JANINE: It was the show, the show brought us together, and that song was always a really special moment in the show, so it felt really right. And then similarly, our first dance was to Parsonsfield. 		
JEREMY: Their cover of Huey Lewis's Power Of Love, which is more of a slow jam. So if you think that's a weird, weird-- 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “The Power of Love” – Parsonsfield
Image of Parsonsfield’s “Afterparty” album cover
Photo of Janine and Jeremy dancing on their wedding day	
JANINE: So good. 		
JEREMY: --first dance song. Their cover of it is beautiful, and so that was our first dance song. And I think every time we hear both those, I think it gets to us. 		
JONATHAN: I love the song Us by Regina Spektor. Here's another mushy story. When my wife and I, when we were, obviously, best friends, the moment I realized I was in love with her-- secretly in love with her-- we went to go and see the movie 500 Days of Summer. And at the end of the movie that song-- I think it was at the end of the movie-- but that song started to play and I just sat there with the whole mushy emotional romantic story of the movie. And I just sat there, and I was like, I think I love this woman. And it was that song that reminds me of that moment. And we had that song as we walked down the aisle at the end of our wedding. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “Us” – Regina Spektor
Image of Regina Spektor’s “Soviet Kitsch” album cover	
AARON: This Will Be An Everlasting Love. 		
COLTON: Natalie Cole, that is the one. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “This will be (an everlasting love) – Natalie Cole
Image of Natalie Cole’s “Inseparable” album cover	
AARON: It's been one of my favorite songs since it was in the Parent Trap, 		
LISA: [LAUGHS] 		
AARON: The second [INAUDIBLE] Parent Trap. 		
COLTON: I'm pretty sure it was also on the playlist the night I proposed, and we joke about how it's going to be the song that we walk down the aisle to. Like it is the song. [LAUGHS] 		
AARON: The way we fell in love with it together, is because we were watching Rupaul, we were repeating some old seasons of Rupaul. And Dida Ritz dances to it, I think with Princess? Anyway, it's all about Dida Ritz, and she does it for Natalie Cole, and it is the most incredible performance. 		
[MUSIC - NATALIE COLE, "THIS WILL BE (AN EVERLASTING LOVE)"] 	Video of Dida Ritz performing “This will be (an everlasting love)” to Natalie Cole on the reality TV show “Rupaul’s Drag Race”. 	
(SINGING) This will be, you and me. Yes, I really, well, eternally. 		
AARON: I would just dance around the living room, and Colton would laugh, and yeah. 		
COLTON: Good memories with that one. 		
KATE: It's actually a song that Kyle picked out for when you walk down the aisle at your wedding. It's the acoustic version of The One by Kodaline. I'd never even heard of this band before. And it was like Kyle's job to figure out the music for the ceremony, And it was so moving, my mom and I were backstage before we walked down the aisle and both just started sobbing because it was so emotional. It's the sweetest. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: “The one” – Kodaline
Image of Kodaline’s “Coming up for air” album cover	
LISA: Well fun fact, so your showmance turned into a wedding, and can we say guess who stood in your wedding? 		
KATE: I was like should I get photos out of one of my bestest friends in the whole world, Lisa Humber, who stood with me. 	Photo of Kate and Lisa as a bridesmaid at Lisa’s wedding	
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Love in One Word	
JACK: Sergio. 		
SERGIO: Aw. 		
JACK: Can you think of something? 		
SERGIO: No, well I was going to say ultimate dream boy, but that's three words. 		
JACK: [LAUGHS] 		
TRACEY: Paul. 		
LISA: Aw. 		
STEFFI: Aw. 		
JANINE: I mean, I would say something really lame like companionship. 		
JEREMY: Yeah, well I think what we always do is when we talk about each other we always say that she's my person. So I think, if I'm saying what love is, she's my person. Not to steal a phrase from that movie where it's like she completes me, but she's my person. 		
JANINE: We're like puzzle pieces. 		
JEREMY: Yeah, yeah. 		
JONATHAN: Having the utmost faith in the unknown, and putting your complete and utter trust in that person and being completely cool with it. 		
COLTON: Patience. I mean that's a bit cliche as well because it's like a Bible verse I'm sure. But I mean after that first year of us working together and falling in love and being boyfriends, we did four years of long distance across the country. So that's the reason I come up with the word patient, because it was like Oh. 		
AARON: That seems better than you just having to deal with me. 		
COLTON: (LAUGHING) No, I didn't mean that. [LAUGHS] 		
AARON: Yeah, that's a great word. It's everything, because every day it's different and it's exciting. And its, yeah. 		
STEFFI: Everything? Oh my god, that's the best word ever to describe that! 		
KATE: The first word that comes to mind is trust. 		
LISA: Great. 		
KATE: Yeah I think I would go with trust. 		
TRACEY: We know that life can be unexpected, right? So sometimes life is long, sometimes it's short, but I always think it's wide. And in that width of our life we have the ability to love a lot if we choose to. So why not? 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	Photos of all the guests with their significant others.
From left to right:
1-	Colton and Aaron. Colton has an arm around Aaron.
2-	Janine and Jeremy smiling to the camera.
3-	Jonathan and Rowina kissing.
4-	Sergio and Jack. Jack has an arm around Sergio.
5-	Kate and Kyle smiling at each other on their wedding day.
6-	Tracey and Paul smiling at the camera.	
STEFFI: Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of check-in from away. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: @steffid5 @lisahumber
Small Instagram logos next to each handle.	
LISA: Happy Valentine's, and see you next time! Cheers! 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	FINAL SLIDE
Check In From Away logo on the screen.
TEXT ON SCREEN: @checkaway @checkinfromaway
Small Twitter and Instagram logo next to each handle.