Romantic, offbeat and filled with surprises, Almost, Maine teases you with its charming plot and relatable stories. Senior Cameron Underwood is directing the critically-acclaimed play.
“Almost, Maine is nine short scenes either about couples or people who are falling in love or falling out of love, and the scenes always get to where something is about to happen, and then it cuts away,” Underwood said. “That’s why it’s called Almost, Maine Also, one of the characters explains that the actual town is called Almost, Maine, because to have a town, you have to get people together, but it’s way up in Northern Maine. There’s like three people; they never really got organized, so they’re almost a town. It’s just kind of goofy.”
John Cariani, an actor and a playwright, is the author of Almost, Maine. Cariani has appeared on and off Broadway and is well known for his role on Law & Order as Forensics Tech Beck from 2002-2007. Underwood was inspired to direct Cariani’s play after seeing it on Broadway in New York City.
“Recently, the theater, dance and vocals departments went to New York, and I was on that trip,” Underwood said. “We went to see a bunch of shows, and one of the shows we saw was called Something Rotten. John Cariani was actually in the cast of Something Rotten. I was in the fourth row, and he was right there, and he was just so good. He was so funny, he was such a good actor and I was like, ‘I should really read his play,’ and then I did, and it was amazing, so we’re doing it.“
As president of the Improv and Drama Club, Underwood’s responsibility is to direct the play, and theater teacher Kayla Sharp will be less involved compared productions put on by the Acting Ensemble.
“She doesn’t want to get involved with it, because it’s kind of my project as the director and the Drama Club’s project in general, so she doesn’t want to interfere too much,” Underwood said. “She helps me out when I have questions or if I need help with something, like I talked to her about printing the script out so everyone gets a copy, I talked to her about getting rights for it, how to do the set and stuff like that. She’s really helpful. Pretty much all the theater opportunities I’ve had would not be possible without her.”
Sharp says the theater department will purchase the rights to Almost, Maine in order to perform the play.
“Every production that we have to put on, except for Shakespeare, which is public domain, has rights and royalties, so that’s something that will affect the admission,” Sharp said. “I think what we’re going to do is to try to cover the cost to make that, but it won’t be anything crazy.”
Sharp and Underwood are aiming for the performance to be held in late May or early June. In addition, the play will be performed in the drama classroom instead of the auditorium.
“[There’s] going to be a much lower budget for it, but the talent is right there with it,” Sharp said. “It will be in the classroom instead of the auditorium. It’s going to be more abstract and more of a black box theatre and less of a proscenium stage. This one’s different because every scene is a two-person scene. It’s a lot more flexible, especially with this play, where you might rehearse once a week instead of five days a week.”
Underwood is happy with the progress of the play and hopes the good chemistry between actors will continue.
“We’ve only had one rehearsal so far; the next rehearsal will be Wednesday.” Underwood said. “It went really well. I felt really in my element, and it just felt good. All the cast took really well to the play; they were cheering each other on while they were reading, laughing at the jokes and gasping at the surprises. I don’t know if I would do it in the future, but it’s definitely something I would be interested in if I had the opportunity.”
Junior Kendra Moon participated in The Wedding Singer and will also act in Almost, Maine.
“The musical is really intense, because there’s so much to learn, and we only have two or three months,” Moon said. “Just because it’s a different type of theater, it’s not as intense, because there’s less to learn, and we don’t have to be there the entire time. We get more one on one interaction, because it’s just little scenes, like a couple of scenes come for every rehearsal, and we work with those specific people.”
Sophomore Delaney Galvin is also acting in the play and agrees that this is a more relaxed production.
“I know everyone; we’re all kind of close already, and it’s laid back a little bit more than a regular school production.” Galvin said.
Sharp looks forward to the Drama club’s final production of the play.
“I’m excited for Cameron, because he wants to be a theater teacher when he gets older, so this will really give him experience with that,” Sharp said. “I’m also really excited, because it really gives students something that they can say 100 percent, ‘We did this. We did not need an adult. We could handle this on our own.’ So I just want it to be something they are very proud of in that way. I’m very excited to see what they do with it and be on the outskirts but still part of it.”
– By Leah Kallam
