Evoking both tears and laughter, Almost, Maine, which opened last night and is playing on Nov. 7, 12, 13, 14, and 15, provides thoughtful entertainment that both conforms to and challenges traditional notions of love and romance.
After its trip to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland last summer, the Paly theater program decided to try a different staging choice for Almost, Maine, performing the show in a modified black box arrangement so that the audience sat on stage with the actors. This seating choice allowed the audience closer contact with the cast, which was at once charming, humorous and touching.
Almost, Maine takes place on a Friday night in the town of Almost, Maine, portraying the stories of different characters through a series of vignettes that share a common thread of love and romance.
The play starts and ends with the story of Ginette (Emily Barry) and Pete (Thomas Williams). Although their scenes move along rather slowly and have little dialogue or action, Barry and Williams perform awkward silences and innocent love well, and emotional sighs came from the audience each time they appeared on stage.
The next story provides a lot more dialogue and drama, culminating in several shouting exchanges between East (Max Grusky) and Glory (Stephanie Spector). This scene also introduces the element of imagination, which appears in later scenes, as audience members must set aside their skepticism to appreciate such impossibilities as literally broken hearts in the scene.
In perhaps the most humorous scene of the play, Sean Mortensen plays a disappointed lover, Jimmy, who finds out that his old girlfriend (Emelyn Hicks) is about to marry another man. Mortensen does an excellent job with facial expressions and movements, encouraging laughter even with serious lines.
In terms of action, the next story packs the most punch as Marvalyn (Maddie Sykes) and Steve (Sam Bellows) exchange several blows over the head with an ironing board. Sykes’ dramatic reaction contrasts humorously with Bellows’ cool, almost unfeeling response, as he struggles to understand the feeling of pain. Beneath the charming humor of the scene, this scene also tells a moving story of acceptance and understanding.
The final scene before the intermission is very moving, as Gayle (Katie Blansett) sadly but firmly demands her “bags of love” back from her boyfriend Lendall (Grant Harmon) because she feels that their relationship is going nowhere. When Blansett pulls out bag after bag of Lendall’s love, the audience realizes that these are literal bags, and that this touching metaphor of love is physically playing out before it.
After a short scene with Pete, the second half starts up with musings about love between two best friends, Randy (Nathan Wilen) and Chad (Zachary Freier-Harrison). Wilen and Freier-Harrison physically perform their scene well, convincingly slipping on the stage floor and looking helplessly at each other.
Following a strained relationship between a couple, the next scene rises from calm dialogue to frenzied yelling between Marci (Hannah Crown) and Phil (Axel Mansoor). In his first theater performance, Mansoor shows Phil’s frustration well, and Crown pairs well as his fed-up wife.
While the next story starts off almost as a monologue for Annie Rosenberg as Hope, the few words Jordan Brown speaks as the man listening to her impart deep meaning, and their brevity provides a nice contrast to her heavy dialogue. This scene had a decidedly tragic feeling despite Hope’s seemingly optimistic name.
The final story goes the furthest in terms of romance, showing kisses and a humorous shedding of layers of clothes between Rhonda (Ke’ili Deal) and Dave (Caleb Jones). Deal’s rough, competitive character contrasts nicely with Jones’ tentative, easygoing one, defying traditional gender roles.
After a final scene between Williams and Barry, the entire cast comes on stage and strikes a pose representative of their scene, reminding the audience of all their charming stories of romance, both satisfied and unfulfilled.
The set of the rural Maine town is beautifully designed, and the sounds effects of car doors slamming and engines roaring are perfectly cued. The technical aspects of this play allow it to move along smoothly as lighting changes and visual effects occur exactly when expected.
Performances will continue this Saturday and next Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and next Sunday at 2 p.m. Due to the black box arrangement, seating is limited. Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults.