Kimberly Merck and Kristen Sehn share the spotlight—and the stage—for the first time in a decade in Colonial Chorus Players’ heartfelt musical comedy
Reading, MA — In the musical comedy First Date—now playing at Colonial Chorus Players in Reading—uptight investment banker Aaron is set up on a blind date with cool, free-spirited Casey. Later, in a fantasy sequence, we meet Aaron’s manipulative ex-fiancée, Allison, and there’s definitely something very familiar about her.
When Aaron sings “Allison’s Theme” with the lyrics, “Five foot four with a cream complexion, hazel eyes you get lost in for days,” you get the feeling he’s describing Casey as well. That’s a reasonable assumption, as one look at the program reveals that Casey and Allison are played by identical twins Kimberly Merck and Kristen Sehn.
Casting Kim and Kristen as rivals turned out to be a happy coincidence for CCP’s production team because they have different last names and auditioned separately. “At auditions, the stage manager (Jen Ryan Gelzleichter) and I had an inkling that Kim and Kristen were related in some way,” explains director Allison Holloway. “We thought sisters or cousins—but finding out they were identical twins was a fun twist!”
Originally from Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, Kim and Kristen grew up singing and performing. “We’ve sung together since we could talk,” Kristen says. They attended a small Catholic school from Kindergarten through high school, where it was impossible to get away with any Parent Trap-style antics because teachers and fellow students knew them too well.
“We were very competitive growing up,” Kristen says, to which Kim quickly adds, “We kind of were forced to be. People compare twins all the time. It’s natural, it just happens.”
From middle school to their years at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, they performed together in such shows as The Wizard of Oz, The Pirates of Penzance, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (as the Geminae, of course), and Spring Awakening. In 2015, they did Catch Me If You Can with a community theater. They didn’t know it at the time, but that musical would be the last time they would share the stage for the next ten years, as Kim abruptly stopped performing shortly afterward.
Though both sisters were obviously born with natural talent, they were never trained in proper vocal technique. “I’m a perfectionist, and I was always nervous to sing because it either worked or it didn’t,” says Kim. “I had no way of knowing what the proper way to do things was. I kind of shut myself off from it for a long time because my perfectionism just got in the way. I was like, ‘If I’m not going to sound the way that I want to, I’m not going to do it at all.’”
The intervening years saw Kim getting married in 2019 and the pandemic shutting down theaters and live performing for the better part of 2020 and 2021. By 2022, Kristen had relocated to Boston. Since Kim’s husband was from Massachusetts, it was an easy decision for the couple to follow Kristen to the Boston area soon after.
Once in Boston, Kristen began pursuing opportunities with community theaters, and she tried to encourage Kim to get back into singing too. “I was like, ‘I would hate to see you lose something that you love to do and not engage with it because you’re afraid.’” With Kristen’s prompting, Kim started taking voice lessons. Gradually, her confidence in herself and her assurance in her talent grew.
Seeing Kristen perform in the musical Anastasia in Weston finally gave Kim the motivation to begin auditioning again. The two sat down and scoured audition notices for shows they could audition for together. When they heard that Colonial Chorus Players was doing First Date, Kristen wasn’t really familiar with it—but Kim had been obsessed with the show since it had premiered on Broadway in 2013.
In particular, Kim was drawn to Casey’s big solo number “Safer,” in which she sings, “I look at the people who’ve worked it all out, and I wonder why I’m still a bundle of doubt.” The song closes with these prescient lyrics: “Before your life flies by . . . don’t let your life fly by. But is it safer? Maybe it’s safer if I don’t try.”
The first time Kim belted out that song at rehearsal, Kristen’s face shone with tears of joy at her sister’s triumphant return to the stage. “We’re very supportive of one another,” says Kim. “It’s the best feeling in the world. There’s no relationship like it.”
Kristen nods her head in agreement. “This is my person,” she says simply. “I feel the most blessed in the entire world that I have her to do Life with. It’s so special that CCP gave us the opportunity to do this together.”
First Date continues at Colonial Chorus Players this weekend with performances May 9 and 10 at 7:30 PM and May 11 at 2 PM at the Old Hose House Theater, 1249 Main Street, Reading. Please note: This show contains mature language and is recommended for audiences 16+. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.ccp1961.org or at the door with cash, check, and Venmo.
