Almost, Maine

Almost, Maine

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Written by John Cariani
Date premiered 2004
Place premiered Portland Stage Company
Portland, Maine
Original language English
Genre Romantic Comedy
Setting Maine
Official site

Almost, Maine is a play by John Cariani, comprising nine short plays that explore love and loss in a remote, mythical almost-town called Almost, Maine. It premiered at the Portland Stage Company in Portland, Maine in 2004 where it broke box office records and garnered critical acclaim. There are eleven short scenes: the Prologue (which continues in the Interlogue and Epilogue), Her Heart, Sad and Glad, This Hurts, Getting It Back, They Fell, Where It Went, Story of Hope, and Seeing the Thing.

Almost, Maine opened Off-Broadway at the Daryl Roth Theatre on January 12, 2006 and closed on February 12, 2006. Directed by Gabriel Barre, the cast included Todd Cerveris, Justin Hagan, Miriam Shor, and Finnerty Steeves.[1] Though its Off Broadway run was brief, the play is featured in Smith and Kraus' New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2006 and has proved popular in professional and nonprofessional theatre companies worldwide. It is now the most produced play in North American high schools, recently supplanting Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.[2]

The New York Times review of the play in 2006 was mixed: "A comedy comprising almost a dozen two-character vignettes exploring the sudden thunderclap of love and the scorched earth that sometimes follows, John Cariani's play will evoke either awww's or ick's, depending on your affection for its whimsical approach to the joys and perils of romance."[3]

A New York Times review of a production at TheatreWorks in Hartford in 2013 was positive: "John Cariani’s Almost, Maine is a series of nine amiably absurdist vignettes about love, with a touch of good-natured magic realism...This is a beautifully structured play, with nifty surprise endings (most but not all of them happy) and passing references to characters from other vignettes, which slyly tell us more about them. Mr. Cariani describes the play’s subject as ‘falling in and out of love.’ It is just as much about pain.” [4]

Praise for Almost, Maine

Controversy

In October 2014, Maiden High School in North Carolina canceled a production of 'Almost, Maine' after "some parents and area churches complained about the play’s inclusion of a same-sex couple" according to students. Principal Rob Bliss released a statement describing the play as having "sexually-explicit overtones and multiple sexual innuendos that are not aligned with our mission and educational objectives." [9]

John Cariani contacted a local news outlet about the controversy and was quoted as saying "I believe the play is about love, not sexual love. The scene with the two young men has no reference to sex at all." Cariani added: "I just think there is a solution other than canceling the production. I’ve reached out to the teacher who applied for rights to the play, but I haven’t heard back. I don’t think the students should have to suffer. They had already purchased the play and started rehearsing for it." [10]

With the involvement of a local teacher, Carmen Eckard, the group performed the play off-campus in mid January, after raising over $6,000 on Kickstarter. The play was directed by local actor and attorney William Morgan.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Cariani, John."Script, 'Almost Maine' Almost Maine (2007), (books.google). Dramatists Play Service, Inc. ISBN 0-8222-2156-X. Retrieved December 19, 2010
  2. ↑ Cara Joy David (December 17, 2010). "New York Flop Becomes a Hit Everywhere Else". The New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
  3. ↑ Isherwood, Charles."Down East, So Much Love, Exciting and New" The New York Times, January 16, 2006
  4. ↑ Gates, Anita. The New York Times, February 15, 2013
  5. ↑ Alleman, Annie (2012), "Relive love's near misses in PTL's 'Almost, Maine'", The Herald News, retrieved 2013-10-23
  6. ↑ OCLC, WorldCat record, New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2006, retrieved 2013-10-23
  7. ↑ Peter, Thomas (2010), "Top 10 Lists Announced for Most-Performed Plays and Musicals in High Schools", Playbill, retrieved 2013-10-23
  8. ↑ Moore, Keeley (2012), "LHS drama class opens tonight with 'Almost, Maine'", High Plans Times and Leader, retrieved 2013-10-23
  9. ↑ Ford, Zack (16 October 2014). "High School Cancels Popular Play Over Allusion To Same-Sex Relationship". Think Progress. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Playwright speaks out about play canceled at local school". WSOC-TV. Cox Media Group. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  11. ↑ http://playbill.com/news/article/following-school-cancellation-and-kickstarter-success-students-present-independent-production-of-almost-maine-339498

External links

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