State High Thespians are excited to present this year’s fall play “Almost, Maine” from Nov. 1 through 3. Divided into nine different scenes with new characters in each scene, the play explores love and loss in a remote, mythical town called Almost, Maine.
State High Alum and director of the show, Lilly Sublett, gave insight into the atmosphere of the magical performance.
“This is a really cool story with really important messages. It’s all about love, and it talks about some topics of love, like falling in love, your first love, regrets from love, and letting go. It’s just a very real text. A really good representation of what real life is. But it’s also kind of magical. There’s a lot of whimsy and magical moments in each scene,” Sublett said.
With only two characters in each scene, in “Almost, Maine” the focus is on the characters and their story, creating an intimate connection.
“It’s very intimate and personal, and you’re very close to the actors. And if you don’t like a scene, it ends in 10 minutes, then you get new characters and a new plotline. So it’s, like, it’s very fun and engaging,” senior Audrey Shaner said.
Other castmates, like senior Piper Mulley, also emphasized the importance of intimate connections within the play.
“People should come see this show because it’s a very poignant depiction of many different forms of love. It’s not just one story about one conventional relationship or type of love and there are many different stories interwoven within the show,” Mulley said.
The strong feelings and deep connections between the characters stem from the director’s emphasis on communication from the beginning of rehearsals.
“At the very beginning of the rehearsal process, we spent an entire rehearsal just talking about characters and working with a scene partner to build out the characters. Because Almost, Maine is a small town, all of the characters are somehow connected to each other. So just a lot of communication,” Sublett said. “So just a lot of talking through things and talking through it like, a lot of the students brought a lot of ideas to their character, which has been really cool to see.”
Through Sublett’s emphasis on communication cast members have been able to better understand their scenes as well as their own characters. Mulley shared described her character, Marvelyn.
“I would say that Marvelyn has matured beyond her age. She is a young woman but has gone through quite a bit of hardship early on in her life. So she’s become a little bit desensitized but then the other character in the scene kind of softened her up a little bit,” Mulley said.
Senior Grace Lebreton also gave insight into her character, Hope.
“I would describe Hope as very confident. She’s pretty confident, and she knows what she wants even if it took her a while to get there. She’s gonna go after it even though she probably won’t get it,” Lebreton said. “And you’re gonna have to find out at the show. You have to come see the show to see if she gets what she wants or not.”
Tickets for the show can be found here, with showing times of Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m., Nov 2. At 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 3 and 2:00 p.m.
With a final push and heartfelt plea to see the show, Lebreton shared how the show is the perfect way to kick off the winter season.
“People should come see the show because the ambiance is everything. It’s, like, getting ready for winter and Christmas time, and everything. It’s getting ready for winter and Christmas time, and there is something about, like, just the vignettes, that is just there’s something to be excited about every scene, and you’re never waiting for something to happen,” Lebreton said.
Note: Photographer Hannah Smith is Thespians president and was involved in the production of “Almost, Maine”, but was not involved in the writing of this article.
