"Almost, Maine"

Theatre review
"Almost, Maine" for Cortland Repertory Theatre
The Ithaca Journal
August 16, 2007
674 words

"CRT celebrates love's otherworldly qualities"

full text here

CRT celebrates love's otherworldly qualities
By Mark Tedeschi
Special to The Journal







Cortland Repertory Theatre's “Almost, Maine” begins with a bundled-up couple, Ginette and Pete, surrounded by starlit snowdrifts, sitting on a bench as far apart as they can. Their dialogue is sparse and timid.

In the next scene, a man named East meets a woman named Glory who's wandering around his yard and tells her, “I think I love you.” She asks if that's really true, and he candidly admits, “At first sight, yeah.”

At the outset, these two simple excerpts bare the heart that beats steadily throughout “Almost, Maine”: a celebration of love's ethereality.

Written by John Cariani (best known for playing Motel in the 2004 Broadway revival of “Fiddler on the Roof”) and directed by Bill Kincaid (a five-season CRT vet), “Almost, Maine” consists of 11 vignettes in two acts, interspersed with acoustic musical interludes, thanks to sound designer Don Tindall, over a pantomiming couple's up-and-down relationship as they rearrange Jim Bumgardner's scenery. Each scene, beginning at 9 p.m. in an unorganized township in Northern Maine known as “Almost,” offers ruminations on love and the expansive list of related topics: friendship, dating, marriage, breaking up, alcohol, shooting stars and misplaced footwear.

There are only six players in the production, counting the faceless scene-changers Gregory Trimmer and Lindsey Zaroogian. The other actors — Molly Pope, Colin Wasmund, Dana Bennison, and Dustin Charles — can't hide their eagerness to tackle the unique opportunity of playing several different characters in the same show; they explore the varied dynamics that come with different couplings. (That includes an unexpected same-sex pairing in a light piece that involves literally “falling” in love.) The acting is credible all-around — including the “jeezum crow” Maine accents — but Charles' natural consistency gives an air of gravity to potentially tacky lines like “I go away so I can know where I am for a second.”

Some of the other vignettes depict a woman (Pope) fascinated with a man (Wasmund) who can't feel physical pain; another woman (Bennison) who dumps colorful pillowcases on her boyfriend's (Charles's) floor and repeatedly demands, “All the love I gave to you? I want it back!”; a man who faces scolding from his wife (Charles and Bennison again) for mistakenly wishing on a planet instead of a star; a woman (Bennison) who returns to her ex's (Wasmund's) house to answer his years-old and two snowboarding buddies (Pope and Charles) who begin to confront the fact that their feelings for each other may be more than platonic.

Most of these stories are blithe, at least at first glance, but some of them end in sheer heartbreak. Seconds before each impending reconciliation, whether whimsical or weighty, the emerald flicker of aurora borealis appears in the background, courtesy of John Horan's excellent lighting design. In the outdoor scenes, the blues bouncing off piles of snow combined with Jimmy Johnsmeyer's sweater-and-parka costumes had me, once the show ended, reaching for a jacket that wasn't there.

A few minor quibbles: some of the 0shorts' endings finish too melodramatic for the amount of character development a vignette allows, and although the actors deliver their lines crisply, the dialogue is occasionally hit-or-miss.

Cariani frequently uses repetition for comedic effect, but with that technique, there can be a fine line between effective and tiring.

Those misfires are on the surface; the beauty of “Almost, Maine” lies deeper.

The stories relish in awkwardness (“There's so much sky here!” followed by “Used to be a potato farm.”), absurdity (“Ironing boards are the opposite of God.”), and nuance (about a hidden-picture painting: “You gotta try not to look at it. You gotta trick it.”).

All are qualities of love that benefit from a subtle but complex investigation; “Almost, Maine” offers it in addition to its outer shell of joyful jocularity.

Seeing “Almost, Maine” will indeed make a good date, but that certainly doesn't restrict its enjoyability. The pieces are so authentic, if you do see it with someone special, you might find that the ensuing conversation could fit right into the show as a final vignette.

“Almost, Maine” runs through Aug 18. For more information, go to www.cortlandrep.org.