By Michael Pedro and Ty Quirk
Western New England University’s theater troupe, the Stageless Players, will put on its annual fall play on the weekend of November 7th. This semester’s play, “Almost, Maine,” has been performed all over the world since it debuted in 2004 and is one of the most frequently-performed plays in U.S. high schools and colleges. In a special twist, the playwright, John Cariani, attended a rehearsal on October 9 – the first time he has ever been to a rehearsal of his play – and provided notes to the actors and directors. Cariani said that this was a sort of homecoming for him, since “I started my acting career at StageWest [here] in Springfield. It feels good to get back to where I started my career.”
Cariani described the play as “a bunch of odd love stories about these regular people who experience supernatural love,” and said he wrote it because “I wanted my friends, who were a bunch of oddballs, to be the stars of love stories. So I wrote these love stories for these odd people.” The play consists of nine short stories that explore love and loss, and Cariani saw three of those stories performed in the Thursday night rehearsal. He said he was impressed by the co-directors and by all seven performers in the three scenes he took in.
Auditions were held the second week of September, and according to one co-director, junior Anthony D’Antonio, it was a great turnout. “We had a lot more people audition for this show than the past four shows. It was 33 auditions compared to 24 last fall.” said D’Antonio. “We were most impressed by everyone’s level of preparedness and the different choices they made during auditions and callbacks.”
“Directing this show has been insane in the best ways possible,” said co-director Lacey Gardner, a sophomore. “It’s pushed me in unexpected ways but it’s also allowed me to express a side of myself that I’ve never really tapped into.”
Red Pintek, one of the actors in the play, had many things to say. He noted that the easiest thing about acting in the play is how tight-knit the actors in each scene become. “All of the scenes are very intimate scenes. All of the characters are [either] falling in and out of love, or some of them are meeting for the first time,” Pintek said. “They don’t leave the location for the whole scene. It’s comfortable for some scenes while also being uncomfortable because of the circumstances.”
Pintek heavily recommends going, since this play has “a scene for everybody. There’s some funny scenes, some heartbreaking scenes, and some that strike a balance between both funny and heartbreaking.” Kyla Buckley, in her third play with the Stageless Players, also sang her praises of the production. “This play is a sweet love story taken throughout many scenes. It’s a very nice, as well as funny at times, play! [You] should go see it if [you] are into romance and comedies!” Buckley said.
For those who want to come see “Almost, Maine”, it will be performed in Sleith Hall’s Wood Auditorium on Friday, November 7th, at 7 P.M., Saturday, November 8th, at 2 P.M. and 7 P.M., and Sunday, November 9th, at 2 P.M. “We worked our butts off on it!” Pintek concluded. Tickets can be purchased either in advance through University Tickets or at the door.
