Almost Maine
Almost Maine is an attractive, and a vast interconnection of many scenes. Sadness, humor, and laughter are all brought out in its many permutations. Almost Maine is written by John Cariani, and was produced by Center Stage North at the Art Place Mountain View on February 21st, 2019. February is Valentine’s month, which calls attention to the state of everyone’s heartbroken, whole, bitter, smitten, unrequited, or undecided. The play is hilarious and entertaining.
Almost, Maine is full of intuitive conversations. Steve, states “God won’t hurt me, but I should fear him,”. Steve does not feel pain and believes he has more “deficiencies than capacities.” A kiss awakes Steve (CARIANI, p56). Idioms, and similes are brought out literally in the play, such as: “love given is returned as giant red bags; a broken heart is clutched in a small paper bag.” Most memorable laugh scene was brought out in the second act, “They Fell”
All scenes are expected to place at the same time, 19 actors playing different roles with different stages of romantic affiliations. All the characters carry excitement, fear, and irritation (Taliaferro). Each character understands clearly the role played, with different personality, and feelings. Pete, Ginette, East, Glory, Jimmy, Sandrine, Steve, Marvalyn, Lendall, Gayle, Randy, Chad, Phil, Marcy, Daniel, Hope, Dave, Rhonda are the characters that make the play successive.
Glory shows great energy in her role in “Her Heart.” She experiences great ideas in her mind, but she is unable to speak them out (Taliaferro). This production is directed by Julie Taliaferro, who shows great intelligence behind the play, together with the capability to mix all combination of sadness, sweetness, and comedy in the same play.
The play is set during winter, the night is dark, and no signs of moon. Stars have filled the sky with their beauty, the environment is ample for falling in and out of love (Taliaferro). The stage is consisting of a flat with two windows and a door. The two windows will rotate to portray indoor and outdoor scenes. Props will be moved on and off between vignettes according to the views.
I like the vignette style of storytelling. Every character had a unique personality, which made the different stories contrast well. I would recommend this play to anyone who loves a good romance. Although most of the loves in this play is comical, you can still get the romantic vibes.
Works Cited
CARIANI, JOHN. ALMOST, MAINE. FEIWEL & FRIENDS, 2019.
Taliaferro, Julie. Almost, Maine. Centerstage North, 2019.