Margie Muller and Kristen Garrett Staff Writers The student run. What is it? No, it’s not a young person 5k (yuk yuk yuk). It’s actually a show entirely organized, produced, performed, and directed by students. Going into its fifth year since its conception, we decided to tackle a show that breaks the Latin Theatre mold. In Almost, Maine by John Cariani, love and connection consumes each character as they all search for an answer to that ever-elusive question: what is love (baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more)? Through a series of vignettes, the inhabitants and visitors of the town of Almost, Maine all deal with love in astoundingly different ways on the same winter night under the watchful eye of the Northern Lights. It’s a romantic dramedy (drama-comedy), where love is treated both realistically in emotion and surrealistically in action. People literally “fall” in love, “break” their heart, and “lose” Hope. The result? A funny yet poignant expression of the fickle nature of love. As Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is just beginning the rehearsal process, so is Almost, Maine. Now, you may ask, “How is that possible? How can the directors, stage manager, and 12 of the 14 cast members participate in two shows at once? Steroids? Time-turners? General neglect of other duties?” No! To put it simply, we rehearse in the morning and Saturday evenings until Alice is over. Then, the day after Alice ends and we strike the set, we put in the set for our show and voila! No conflict period has begun! I know this must seem utterly ridiculous, but, as the motto goes, “Double, double, toil and trouble.” “To be or not to be.” “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?” In layman’s terms, “We can work it out!” So, come November 15 and 16th, we hope to see you in the audience, yuk-ing, tearing, and exalting it up for all of the hard work that is yet to come in our journey to produce, direct, and design Almost, Maine. Remember, as the seminal pop-classic We Are Golden by Mika says, “No giving up when you’re young and you want some…” theatre.]]>
