Hunter Minor (Jamie), Melanie Sierra (Cathy) rehearse for “The Last Five Years” while director Lenny Leibowitz plays piano. The musical opens Thursday at the Vern Riffe Center. Courtesy of Alexa Baker

A lot can change in five years. 

This is especially true for couple Cathy and Jamie — the main characters in modern musical “The Last Five Years,” which also happens to be The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio’s final show of the 2024-25 season. 

According to the theater’s website, the musical opens Thursday in Studio Two at the Vern Riffe Center — located at 77 S. High St. — and will run on select dates through May 11. Using a distinctive narrative structure, “The Last Five Years” deconstructs the highs and lows of the couple’s five-year-long relationship from start to finish, the website states. 

The love story is presented through opposing timelines — Jamie starts at the beginning of the relationship and moves forward, while Cathy starts at the end and moves backward, said Hunter Minor, the actor playing Jamie. 

“We go back and forth,” Minor said. “We play tennis; we hit the ball back to one another as [Cathy] tells the story from her point of view and I tell the story from my point of view.” 

The two rarely cross paths, briefly sharing a moment together during the show’s sole duet, “The Next Ten Minutes,” Minor said. Unlike most other productions of the musical, in which the actors “take turns” on stage, he said director Lenny Leibowitz has created a space where the characters can co-exist even when they’re not on the stage at the same time. 

Minor said the show is not meant to focus on the outcome of the relationship, but rather the journey the couple took to reach that point.

“[Cathy’s] first lyrics are, ‘Jamie is over; Jamie is done,’” Minor said. “It’s no surprise to the audience where we’re going, but rather how we get there.”

Katherine Simon, an Ohio State third-year graduate student in scenic design and the show’s set designer, said the set features a more abstract design to reflect the couples’ various memories spanning the duration of the relationship.

Hunter Minor (Jamie), director Lenny Leibowitz and Melanie Sierra (Cathy) rehearsing on the set of the Contemporary Theatre of Ohio’s “The Last Five Years.” Courtesy of Alexa Baker

“I kind of — with this particular set —  focused more on making it an emotional container and space that was flexible to meet all of those needs,” Simon said. “In which case, the black box [theater] is actually really perfect for that because we wanted to deal with the topics kind of intimately and have people invested emotionally. That space actually works really well for that kind of play.” 

On the performance side of things, Minor said taking on the role of Jamie was no easy task.

“He does a lot of things wrong, and it’s through this rehearsal process that I’ve learned that it’s OK that he’s not perfect,” Minor said. “Maybe he doesn’t need to be justified, and maybe, in fact, it’s a story about two people who are not perfect and try really, really hard.”

Minor said even if people can’t relate to the specifics of Cathy and Jamie’s relationship, they’ll connect with the emotions behind it. 

“These are people in search of companionship, doing their best and sometimes not doing it right. It makes me rethink my relationships, but that’s why people should see it,” Minor said. “It’s a story we’ve all told and been a part of, whether we realize it or not. It really does hit hard with our hearts.”

Originally released in 2001, “The Last Five Years” has grown a cult following, according to a press release from the theater. A film adaptation was released in 2014 starring Anna Kendrick (“Pitch Perfect”) and Jeremy Jordan (“Newsies” on Broadway), further expanding the show’s reach. 

Simon said even returning audiences can benefit from a rewatch, finding new meaning in the timeless story. 

“I think it’s an interesting show to see again or revisit as you kind of move through the stages of your life because I think your perspective of what’s going on in the story changes,” Simon said. “I would say even if you think you know the story, it might be interesting to see it with new eyes in a new place in life.” 

Tickets for the show are $65.38, inclusive of fees, and can be purchased on CAPA’s website. Student rush tickets are available for $20 at the theater’s box office up to two hours before showtime and are limited to one ticket per valid student ID. 

For more information regarding showtimes and ticketing, visit the theater’s website.