Shoemaker High School Theater is taking a humorous, thought-provoking look at a simple, complicated topic – love.The theater department is staging Almost, Maine with 7 p.m. shows Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the school auditorium.
Several of the actors and crew members said they enjoyed the play’s unusual format, with eight separate scenes depicting a wide variety of human relationships.
The series of scenes take place against an outdoor setting in a northern, rural town in the evening in the state of Maine.
“It shows a bunch of points of view of romance,” said junior M. DeLaRiva, who plays in two of the scenes, one an episode of love at first sight and one featuring an elderly couple struggling with the tedious routine of a long marriage.
“You see people who haven’t seen each other in a long time. You see couples reuniting. You see people who have been together and now are separating,” DeLaRiva explained.
“I love how there are more points of view.”
A wife admits to her husband that she is chronically lonely even though she loves her husband and two children.
In another scene, a person reveals their list of things that hurt and things that frighten her.
In one scene, a pair talking about their failed relationships find themselves repeatedly thrown to the ground – falling in love with one another.
Senior Angelina Martinez said some of the scenes show the awkward response of couples when one of them says, ‘I love you.’
In her scene, Martinez plays a character named Hope.
“He proposes to me, and I leave,” she said, explaining the scenario. “Then I leave and eventually come back with an answer, and I find out he is married.”
“I like how we’ve put it all together. I’m proud of our tech crew and our sets,” she said. “I’m proud of what people are going to see.”
Senior Jaila Reed worked on the set pieces and the sound. She said audiences would enjoy the variety of stories and appreciate the surprising, quirky endings.
Senior Jules Yadao, the stage manager, agreed that the play holds interesting, unusual messages in a format that will hold audience members’ attention. “They will see the effort we’ve put into it and enjoy the storytelling.”
“There are multiple scenes with the same theme,” he said.
“I love it. It’s really fun. Our cast has really good chemistry. We make a lot of jokes. This is a powerhouse cast that is a great team.”
