Almost, Maine • Pit & Balcony Explores Romantic Convergence in a Parallel Universe

Given that the month of February is where our energies focus upon celebrating and exploring all matters of the heart, please consider the following: a  woman carries her heart, broken into nineteen pieces, in a small paper bag. A man shrinks to half his former size, after losing hope in love. A couple keep the love they have given each other in large red bags, or compress the mass into the size of a diamond.

These playful and surreal experiences are commonplace in the world of Almost, Maine, where on one deeply cold and magical Midwinter Night, the citizens of Almost (not organized enough for a town, and too populated to be considered a wilderness) experience the life-altering power of the human heart.  Relationships end, begin, or change beyond recognition, as strangers become friends, friends become lovers, and lovers turn into strangers.

Propelled by the mystical energy of the aurora borealis and populated with characters who are humorous, plain-spoken, thoughtful, and sincere, Pit & Balcony Community Theatre is busily putting the touches on a series of performances exploring various romantic convergences of the citizens in Almost, Maine through a series of loosely connected tales about love, each with a compelling couple at its center, and each with its own touch of sorcery.

Set for a series of performances on February 14-16 & 21-23^rd this 2004 play written by John Cariani is comprised of nine short vignettes that explore love and loss in this remote mythical town. It premiered in Portland, Maine, in 2004 where it broke box office records and garnered critical acclaim, and has since become one of the most popular plays in the United States, with nearly 100 professional productions and over 5000 community and university productions staged across the country to date.

This beautifully structured play, infused with nifty surprise endings (most but not all of them happy) and passing references to characters from other vignettes manage to slyly tell us more about the characters as their individual stories unravel, and Cariani describes the play’s subject as “falling in and out of love.”

In many ways, Almost, Maine lands somewhere between Norman Rockwell and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, with no pretense and narratives that render a sweetness and decency that is rare in contemporary theater and offers a welcome breath of fresh air, which is one of the many factors that drew director Josh Lloyd to tackle this production for Pit & Balcony.

Lloyd is making his directorial debut with Almost, Maine and is frequently involved with The Friction Theatre and Center Stage Theatre at Midland Center for the Arts, where he just wrapped up The Wizard of Oz not long ago as the Cowardly Lion. 

“Almost, Maine is one of my favorite plays because it’s a town of hard working people and I tend to think of it like a rural town in Michigan near the tri-cities,” he reflects. “We have a cast of four actors who portray different characters living in this town, and the fun thing about the show is that because its comprised of a bunch of vignettes instead of one linear story line, we meet a bunch of different characters going through different relationship journeys.”

“Some are uplifting, some make you cry, some are hopeful, but all are going through different times and stages of their relationships, and the fun thing is all these different moments and scenes all happen at the same time in this town at one magical moment when the Northern Lights flare in the sky and we see what each of these characters are doing at that precise moment,” he continues.

“Another factor that drew me to this production is with a traditional play you get one set of characters and one story and that’s what you’re tied to, but with this show we get to experience all these different stories within a 90-minute time frame that keeps your attention.”

 “We get enough time to fall in love with these characters, but they don’t overstay their welcome; and then we get to watch another set of characters. It’s a  very funny play that will have you laughing in your seat, and then in the next scene it might touch a little too close to home, because it’s very realistic in terms of how it portrays relationships. Not all of them are googly-eyed, some don’t work, and it doesn’t shy away from the pros and cons of what a roller-coaster ride a relationship can be.”

With a cast consisting of Lindsay Mclaughlin and Kennedy Danner each playing two different sets of female characters and two sets of male roles filled by Dan Kettler and Matthew Howe, Josh says auditions for the production went very well.  “Traditionally with auditions actors will come and read different scenes from the production, but I wanted to change it up so instead we did open monologue auditions and asked each actor to come in with a one-minute memorized comedic monologue, so we could select the actors that way.”

Given the versatility required from each of these four actors to portray multiple characters, when asked what each actor brings to these various roles, Josh is highly complementary.  “Kennedy Danner brings a sweetness to her characters as well as the fiery side that some of them require, and isn’t afraid to dive into the nature of the character, because something I’ve told all the cast is to not replicate behaviors or mannerisms, but pay attention to who these characters are - how they walk, how they talk, how they hold themselves - how to make them different from one another.”

“Matt Howe makes me laugh with some of his characters,” Josh observes. “There’s one specific character who is a super innocent guy that listens to his brother about all his life advice and hardly thinks for himself, and Matt makes me laugh so hard with his rendering of that role; but then in the next scene he has to come out in a completely opposite type of role, which he does very well and also brings a sweetness and honesty to all the characters he portrays.”

“Our other female, Lindsay Mclaughlin  breathes a wonderful mystery into her characters, and a wonderful sass, and is really good at life-lining the character’s honesty. She’s excellent at making different characters relatable.  She can go from a Tomboy to someone well-dressed and accustomed  to the finer things in life - a real ‘Girl’s Girl’ - and then do a 180 degree flip, which is amazing.”

“As for Dan Kettler, he’s really good at physical comedy and nails all comedic beats spot-on,” concludes Josh. “There’s one scene were he’s discovering that maybe a relationship he’s involved with is going a bit further than being friends, and the physical comedy is priceless and very hilarious.”

Given that he’s  working with veteran actors, Josh feels his biggest challenge with this production is emphasizing the power of silence to elicit greater emotional power between the characters. “Sometimes it’s easy to keep the energy flowing by piling through scenes, but this show really relies on some silent moments that need to be taken in order to pause and reflect upon what was said,” he explains.

“The scariest type of anger, for instance, is not when a person is yelling and screaming but when they’re quiet and speaking through their teeth. - that’s when you know they meen business. Paying attention to these specific moments has really paid off.”

With all these elements of romanticism synchronously working together in a parallel universe, Almost, Maine is the perfect show to debut on Valentine’s Day. “Whatever type of relationship you’re in, this is the perfect show to enjoy with someone you’re close to,” concludes Josh.

“Additionally, because we’ve been fortunate to have so many Northern Lights in our region this year, Pit & Balcony will be having a Northern Lights Photo Submission Contest that we’ll be setting up as a lobby display.  People can submit photos they’ve taken of the Northern Lights and win a free ticket to the show, and we’ll be releasing more information about this on our social media platforms.”

Pit & Balcony’s production of ‘Almost, Maine’ runs from February 14-16 and 21-23. Shows start at 7:30 PM with Sunday matinees at 3:00 PM. Tickets are only $20.00 and available at PitandBalconyTheatre.com or by phoning the box office at 989.754.6587.