Staff photo by Connor Cummiskey Anita Prestidge, left, and Nita Gilbert rehearse “A Frog” for their upcoming theatrical concert Sunday at The Grand.

NEW ULM — An original show explores the tensions of transitioning in life for a middle-aged woman this Sunday at The Grand Center for Arts and Culture.

“Away to Still” starts at 2 p.m. on the second floor of The Grand. The show is free, though it accepts free-will donations to cover the cost of the production.

Not quite a theatrical show and not quite a concert, the “theatrical concert” will explore the paradox of moving through life using music.

“Whenever you move away you are also moving to something,” performer Anita Prestidge said.

Prestidge and Nita Gilbert perform together to portray Janice, also called Jane as her younger self, as she attempts to find peace and be present in her life.

“We started with the songs and we had 10 more besides this that we could choose from,” Gilbert said.

The show is partially inspired by transitions in their own lives. For example, Prestidge drew from her own experience changing from a stay-at-home mom to a professional performer.

Carrying momentum from last summer’s “The Wind and the Sweet German Boy,” the show is 10 songs tied together with a plot written by Prestidge.

One song’s lyrics are penned by Prestidge herself, and Peter Michael von der Nahmer has written music to a few. Others will be recognizable classics from songwriters like Stephen Sondheim.

Sondheim’s “Not While I’m Around” is one of the songs the women take a new angle at, with alternating lines sung as dialogue between Prestidge and Gilbert.

The biggest challenge for the pair was learning how to collaborate creatively. While Prestidge is credited with the script, she still had to learn how to make sure Gilbert was a partner in the process.

Connor Cummiskey can be emailed at ccummiskey@nujournal.com.