This article was written by Carrie Kuecks, class of 2019.
As the stage-produced replica of the Northern Lights flickered, the audience of the American Heritage Center of the Arts’ performance of Almost Maine cried, laughed and gasped at the various vignettes performed by freshman and sophomore actors.
Almost Maine depicts locales and travelers in a town called Almost located in Northern Maine, where every day night at 9 p.m. something unusual happens. The cast of eight actors excelled at playing 19 different roles. Although the play provided frequent knee-slapping laughter, it also revealed deeper meanings and evoked emotions of pity, sadness and wonder.
Most of the acts focused on the theme of love with sprinkles of comedic and tragic elements. In one scene, Glory (played by sophomore Gabriela Coutinho) carried around a broken heart in her purse while, figuratively, she had a broken heart due to her husband passing away. She meets East (played by sophomore Nathan Mahon), who is a handyman and fixes her heart physically by attaching it together, but who also kisses her, and in doing so, mends her heart figuratively as well. The play was not only complex and deep, but it also caused the audience to erupt with laughter multiple times. Some examples include when two characters, Randy (also played by Nathan Mahon) and Chad (played by sophomore Frederick Bredemeyer) fall in love with each other emotionally and then fall on the floor around five times repeatedly. Another instance is when characters, Pete (played by freshman Jonah Warhaft) and Ginette (played by sophomore Veronica Ritkes) awkwardly attempt to hold hands outside in the cold night and confess their love for one another. The two attempt to get as physically close as possible, without kissing. In order to do so, Pete instructs Ginette to walk around the area all the way to him instead of just scooting next to his, which showed the strength of their love since they were adamant to go the distance. The play makes a full circle at the end and concludes with Ginette finally making her way back to Pete which displays their adorable and hilarious innocence.
The play managed to evoke many emotions out of audience members. The realistic and relatable characters, gorgeous backdrop, hilarious jokes and deep concepts both entertained and captivated audiences.
