“Almost, Maine,” set in the not-quite (fictional) town of Almost, Maine, is a comedic, sometimes heart-warming, sometimes ick-inducing play written by John Cariani, and directed by Ellie de Waal. The play, performed by EMU theater students, alumni, and staff, features nine vignettes, ( French,) a collection of short scenes on a theme according to Theatrefolk which interweave in their small-town charm. The charm of the play lies not in the puns and wordplay or the magical realism, but in the authenticity and faithfulness of the humanity portrayed: presenting perhaps unrealistic situations, the actors react with a naturalism that balances the theatrics to demonstrate true human nature, wrapped up in a snow-globe setting.
The play begins with a romantic couple, Pete and Ginette, sitting on a bench. Ginette moves closer to Pete, saying—despite the couple feet between them—she’s never felt closer to him. Pete then tries to tell Ginette that they are the furthest they could be from each other, because, as he explains, the farthest distance you can have between two people is the circumference of the world as they sit next to each other (we recommend a snow globe for a visual aide as needed.) Understandably distressed, Ginette leaves Pete yearning after her. This scene sets the tone for the rest of this sweet, but sometimes endearingly-awkward show: some scenes are like watching your two awkward friends, who both like each other in a way that’s very obvious to everyone but them, flirt.
Although I loved the play, some of the moments gave me a ‘deja-vu’ sense of second-hand embarrassment—my investment in the characters and the stories themselves didn’t allow turning a blind eye to their occasional blunders and social missteps (sometimes, they even echoed my own life to an uncomfortable degree)––but the toned up awkwardness also struck me as funny. Occasionally, I laughed for more than a minute. There is one scene where a character named Jimmy sees his former love interest, Sandrine, and the two begin an awkward exchange in which words like “yeah” and “great” are traded an exorbitant number of times in a cute, panicky way. The scene was reminiscent of how I feel when talking to a girl I like when I haven’t seen her in a while (see above, echoes of my own experience.)
Despite this, the awkwardness of the show is what made me love it the most. The first scene, which features Adam Hoover and Hannah Landis as East and Glory respectively, meet as Glory attempts to drag an already-assembled tent into East’s yard. Glory hopes to see the Northern Lights, to watch her dead husband, Wes, pass on. During the rest of their heartfelt–if not stilted–exchange, Landis does a fantastic job at over-exaggerating her body language; at one point in the scene, Landis kicks her feet up in the air imitating a cross-country skier. Hoover does an equally fantastic job at seeming like he had fallen in love at first sight. The awkwardness of the set up of the scene—Glory’s dead husband, mainly—is overshadowed by the cuteness of watching two characters fall in love.
This realism is a key factor in the show’s magic. When I asked De Waal what she was looking for in terms of casting she said, “I was looking for folks to come in as humans first. Their humanity is what helps with casting them for the characters they will play.” May I say, the casting was done perfectly. Each actor and actress played their role to a tee, making me feel like I was watching real people talk, while watching their characters interact.
Overall, the characters in the show feel like a group of awkward, sweet, and kind-hearted people who sometimes don’t know how to interact with each other—just like we are, and sometimes don’t. That’s what I love about it the most. It’s not cheesy movie love; it’s unusual, odd, but charming love. It felt real, like I am watching two people fall in love, argue, move on, admit their feelings, burn themselves on irons, say ‘I love you’ too late, and just live.
Readers interested in seeing the show can attend the performances on September 28-30 at 7pm and October 1 at 2pm. Tickets are available through the EMU Box Office online and in person.
