This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Fletcher High School's production of Almost, Maine.
Almost, Maine was written by John Cariani in 2004. The show is made up of nine short plays that all take place at the same time and in the same town, Almost, Maine. When the play originally premiered it was a flop, but over time has become the most produced high school play in America. It also receives productions from colleges and community theaters nationwide. So any group hoping to mount a production of it may feel like it has some pretty big shoes to fill. Fletcher definitely stepped up to the plate.
Under the direction of Tom Ming the show made the audience laugh, awe, and even cry at times. The show is traditionally done with a cast of six. Three males and Three females. One couple plays the recurring roles of Pete and Ginette, while the rest of the cast plays different roles in each scene. With a total of 19 parts to play, Tom cast 19 actors and actresses who were driven and motivated to put on this show. While inspired by other productions of the show, it felt like the cast really made it their own. Most shows have a point where it drags or lags, but Fletcher's Almost, Maine honestly did not. Each scene was on a consistent par with it's previous and post scene.
The show begins with the beginning of Pete and Ginette's story. Played by Nathan Chayangyang and Paige Shadden the scene worked well in setting the tone for the rest of the show, that it was cute and lighthearted at it's core. The following scene "Her Heart" was a goofy and sort of absurd scene about a woman named Glory who carries around her broken heart and decides to watch the northern lights in a man name East's yard. Taylor Ward and Jacob Wall both brought a high energy and sense of understanding to the scene that it lived up to it's full potential.The following scene "Sad and Glad" was a turn from it's predecessor.
While "Her Heart" was very funny and cute, "Sad and Glad" was unfortunate, but VERY funny. The scene takes place in the local bar, "The Moose Paddy" where Jimmy, played by Grant Williams is drinking alone for what doesn't seem to be the first time. He runs into his ex, Sandrine and you can tell that he hasn't moved on. In a very awkward, but funny exchange of dialogue Jimmy tries desperately to get her back only to find out she is engaged. Grant and Eden's characters were in perfect contrast so that it generated laughter throughout the entire performance. The thing about Almost, Maine is each scene has a twist. Ashley Campbell played the waitress in the scene whose character name I won't spoil was apart of the big twist that was responsible for one of the biggest laughs in the scene.
"This Hurts" was the third scene in the show and it was a unique blend of dark and funny. Some of the scenes in the show had underlying messages and this scene was a prime example. Taking place in a laundry mat, Marvalyn finishes up her laundry while Steve is reading his notebook. Marvalyn, played by Abby Swanick acidently hits Steve, played by Ken Morrow with her ironing board. This kicks off the premise of the scene which is that Steve can not feel pain. While Steve is very funny due to his innocence and likable spirit, the audience also finds out Marvalyn is in an abusive relationship. The whole scene Marvalyn is asking Steve what it is like to not feel pain when in reality she feels a lot of emotional pain. It was a very fun scene, but also allowed for a lot of reflection.
"Getting it Back" was very similar to "Sad and Glad" in its overall tone. It was kinda sad, but really funny at the same time. Gayle, played by Jesse Raymer burst into the scene demanding that her husband Lendall, played by Josh Mullis gives it back. You might be wondering what exactly she wants back and it's all the love she gave him. She brings in countless giant red bags of love that he gave her in a laugh out loud moment. Without spoiling the twist, this scene ends on a really sweet note between the two in a picture perfect moment that was a nice button on the scene.
After "Getting it Back," we come back to visit Pete and Ginette. Well, really just Pete as he is lonely, waiting for her to come back. After that, the humor highlight of the show "They Fell" takes place. It takes place between two best friends, Chad and Randy. The characters were perfectly portrayed by Brian Williams and Joe Miller. For most of the scene the two are bragging about who has worse luck with girls until Chad *literally* starts falling in love with Randy. Randy is weirded out until something comes over him and he too falls. The two both stumbled, crawl, and slide towards each other in the funniest moment of the show and the perfect ending to the scene.
Brian and Joe rehearsing the ending
The following scene, "Where it Went" took a sharp 180 turn from the laugh out loud humor before it. This was the most dramatic scene in the show, but it felt so real for the audience. Phil and his wife Marci are arguing after ice skating about a myriad of things, but primarily where her other shoe went. Kyle Clausen and Alex Heap worked perfectly together in bringing this scene to life. Their argument started small and began to build in a very logical and real sense. The tension was felt over the audience and it felt so real. The audience got a sense that Marci was just rude as she accused Phil of not paying enough attention until she dropped the bombshell, "Happy Anniversary" implying he forgot. A mixed reaction fell over the audience. You could hear the girl's heart break with Marci and the guys knowing how bad Phil messed up. The scene was incredible and the twist provided closure, but also left a lot of room for interpretation.
"Story of Hope" used to be the scene that made no sense to me the very first time I read the show. After seeing it live in a previous production it became one of my favorites. Kalli Shiftkey and Thomas Royal brought this scene to life and I loved it! They portrayed the roles of Hope and Daniel. This scene is like "This Hurts" in the respect that it goes a lot deeper than the dialogue. The scene to me kinda had two twist so I won't give a full synopsis, but it is the only scene in the show that ends on a very sad, heartbreaking note. It was so perfectly orchestrated between the two actors that the audience was glued.
"Seeing the thing" was the last scene before we came back to Pete and Ginette. "Seeing the thing" was the show at heart. It was cute, funny, awkward at times (in a good way) and just made you feel good. The scene was about Dave, played by Hunter Hileman trying to get Rhonda, played by Kaitlin Owens to see the bigger picture in a painting he got her. Like each individual scene, it was so much more than the dialogue. Each scene had some form of an underlying message. Hunter and Katlin's comedic timing could not have been better in this laugh out loud scene.
Finally the audience comes back to a lonely Pete. Ginette re-enters having traveled as far away from him as possible so eventually she could be as close to him as possible. It was absolutely adorable and the perfect end to such a wonderful show.
The show had a great light and sound design. A northern lights, lighting effect ended every scene and looked beautiful. The music for the show was a lot of acoustic 60's and 70's music that fit perfectly. Lights were operated by Jack Shannon and Sound was operated by Claire Fiegl, all under the Stage Management of Jordyn Hawley.
