The University Players of Cal State Long Beach continue its fall 2011 season, with “Almost, Maine,” a play about an imaginary town in Maine and the love connections between all the young-hearted characters set on a Friday evening in the middle of Winter.
“Almost, Maine,” written by John Cariani, is a modern day compilation of nine romantic vignettes, or short stories. It portrays an optomistic perspective of love in various forms, according to director Jeff Paul, a CSULB alumni who has seen the university theater department grow from the 1970s.
“The playwright mentions a magic moment, which I think is like a metaphor for that first spark of whatever love becomes,” Paul said. “[It’s about] what happens between people whether they are strangers, friends or long-time couples and how that spark manifest itself.”
Although the play seems rooted in reality, there is a small portion of fantasy represented, Paul said. One of the female characters carries her broken heart in a bag, another male character cannot feel pain and love can be literally be tossed back-and-forth in the city of Almost.
The imaginary aspects of the play bring out the several types of humor expressed throughout the play. While the writing portrays the characters to be realistic and identifiable, viewing them in different scenes allows the audience to interpret the stories in various ways, Paul said.
Since the acting alone exhibits the true love theme, “Almost, Maine” is not sensationalized with an extravagant set and make-up tricks.
The intimate stage in the Players Theater “puts you in the story because you can literally reach out and touch the actors,” Paul said. “It allows for more honesty in the acting as well because there is such an immediacy to having people close by.”
The cast consists of CSULB students with skill levels ranging from beginning to advance. As a guest director, Paul met everyone for the first time at the auditions during the 2011 spring semester, and assigned roles according to their performance and chemistry with other actors.
There are three female actors and three male actors, who play at least three different roles in eight short stories, plus a prologue and epilogue. The audience never sees a character in more than one scene because all of the scenes are going on at the same time.
“Almost, Maine” premieres Friday, Oct. 21 and runs through Nov. 5. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. in the Players Theatre. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors. For more information, visit csulb.edu/depts/theatre.
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