October 31, 2019 at 5:15 p.m.
'Almost' here
Jay County thespians' production opens Friday
'Almost' here
It’s not just a single story.
It’s 10.
Well, almost.
Jay County High School Thespian Troupe 574 will open its production of “Almost, Maine” — the play features nine individual stories — at 7 p.m. Friday.
“‘Almost, Maine’ is basically a play about love,” said senior Roscoe Phenis, who portrays Lyndall opposite sophomore Hannah Troyer’s Gayle.
Theirs has the most traditional ending of the love stories, with Lyndall eventually asking his longtime girlfriend to marry him and Gayle accepting the proposal. They live happily ever after.
But that’s just one of the views of love that “Almost, Maine” offers. It also portrays love at first sight, the challenges of running into an ex-lover, the awkwardness of a first encounter, a friendship blossoming into something more and a relationship falling apart.
Pete and Ginette, played by Alex Ardizzone and Juste Griskonyte, open the show and are the only couple to return to the stage in multiple scenes. (Two other characters make reappearances, though in a different pairing.) The rest of the production is broken into short vignettes displaying the variety of relationships between couples.
The show had been on director Carol Gebert’s wish list for years. It was after she met “Almost, Maine” playwright John Cariani earlier in 2019 that she was inspired to take on the production now.
“And these people deserved this show,” she said of the cast, which also features Ben Hunter, Shyla Renner, McKenna Vore, Megan Templeton, Alex Batt, Cerridwen Harris, Logan Zimmerman, Alina Nikolaiets, Taylor Knapp, Nic Flowers, Hannah Littler, Nichol Kunkler, Liz Stewart, Caleb Weaver, Jessica Lininger and K Holcomb.
It’s 10.
Well, almost.
Jay County High School Thespian Troupe 574 will open its production of “Almost, Maine” — the play features nine individual stories — at 7 p.m. Friday.
“‘Almost, Maine’ is basically a play about love,” said senior Roscoe Phenis, who portrays Lyndall opposite sophomore Hannah Troyer’s Gayle.
Theirs has the most traditional ending of the love stories, with Lyndall eventually asking his longtime girlfriend to marry him and Gayle accepting the proposal. They live happily ever after.
But that’s just one of the views of love that “Almost, Maine” offers. It also portrays love at first sight, the challenges of running into an ex-lover, the awkwardness of a first encounter, a friendship blossoming into something more and a relationship falling apart.
Pete and Ginette, played by Alex Ardizzone and Juste Griskonyte, open the show and are the only couple to return to the stage in multiple scenes. (Two other characters make reappearances, though in a different pairing.) The rest of the production is broken into short vignettes displaying the variety of relationships between couples.
The show had been on director Carol Gebert’s wish list for years. It was after she met “Almost, Maine” playwright John Cariani earlier in 2019 that she was inspired to take on the production now.
“And these people deserved this show,” she said of the cast, which also features Ben Hunter, Shyla Renner, McKenna Vore, Megan Templeton, Alex Batt, Cerridwen Harris, Logan Zimmerman, Alina Nikolaiets, Taylor Knapp, Nic Flowers, Hannah Littler, Nichol Kunkler, Liz Stewart, Caleb Weaver, Jessica Lininger and K Holcomb.
“Because they have to handle the topic of love, and they have to handle it sincerely and with comedy.”
She added that the cast members each needed their 15 minutes of fame, which the style of the play provides. Because it is displayed in vignettes, there is no true lead role. Rather, the actors are all on relatively equal footing.
There are relationships that provide some challenges and address subject matter that the students may not have experienced yet in their lives. For instance, Templeton, president of the thespian troupe, is involved in a scene in which her best friend expresses feelings of love.
“I just kind of play it how it is,” she said. “If I was a person with my best friend falling in love with me, I would probably feel awkward. And that’s how my character feels at first.”
The production is the first of three shows the JCHS troupe will perform in a span of just four weeks.
The group will follow “Almost, Maine” with the children’s musical “Junie B. Jones” from Nov. 15 through 17. Then, on Nov. 23, Jay County will perform “Bang Bang You’re Dead” in the Indiana Thespians regional competition.
That’s been a challenge, but it’s another reason “Almost, Maine” fit so well this year. The format of the show allowed acting duos to rehearse together rather than needing the entire cast.
Those duos and the various love stories they portray will connect with audience members, Templeton said.
“It relates to at least something that everybody’s experienced,” she added. “It’s not like a show where you’re going off on a great adventure like nobody has experienced. Everybody has had something like this.”
She added that the cast members each needed their 15 minutes of fame, which the style of the play provides. Because it is displayed in vignettes, there is no true lead role. Rather, the actors are all on relatively equal footing.
There are relationships that provide some challenges and address subject matter that the students may not have experienced yet in their lives. For instance, Templeton, president of the thespian troupe, is involved in a scene in which her best friend expresses feelings of love.
“I just kind of play it how it is,” she said. “If I was a person with my best friend falling in love with me, I would probably feel awkward. And that’s how my character feels at first.”
The production is the first of three shows the JCHS troupe will perform in a span of just four weeks.
The group will follow “Almost, Maine” with the children’s musical “Junie B. Jones” from Nov. 15 through 17. Then, on Nov. 23, Jay County will perform “Bang Bang You’re Dead” in the Indiana Thespians regional competition.
That’s been a challenge, but it’s another reason “Almost, Maine” fit so well this year. The format of the show allowed acting duos to rehearse together rather than needing the entire cast.
Those duos and the various love stories they portray will connect with audience members, Templeton said.
“It relates to at least something that everybody’s experienced,” she added. “It’s not like a show where you’re going off on a great adventure like nobody has experienced. Everybody has had something like this.”
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