'Almost, Maine' tells a story of falling in and out of love

Similar to how a television or web series has multiple stand alone episodes that eventually combine to tell the whole story, "Almost, Maine" is a series of short scenes that pull together at the end to complete the story.

"There are nine different scenes or nine different love stories," Southeast Missouri State University senior Megan Steck, student director of "Almost, Maine" said. "Each of them range from about two minutes to 10 minutes. You get to see the different variations of love and the different stages of love."

"Almost, Maine" is set in the fictional town of Almost located in northern Maine near the Canadian border. The town is called "Almost" because the residents failed to become organized. The play takes place on a Friday night during winter as the residents are falling in and out of love.

"It takes place between about 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock one evening," Bart Williams, professor of acting and stage combat said. "There are several different people in the town and they all know each other. So you're looking at a slice of life from each of the characters' point of view."

The original play calls for 19 characters and four actors who perform multiple roles. Southeast's version instead uses 19 actors to play each character. Williams said that "Almost, Maine" has been in production since the first week of February.

Williams is acting as the faculty mentor for Steck.

"I'm helping the student director to shape the show and make sure that everything runs smoothly," Williams said. "[Steck] is graduating this year. She's sort of a super senior, and she's been a stage manager for a multitude of different productions. So this is her first real semi-professional directing."

Steck said that the crew for this show is a good fit for her first show.

"I think the cast has been great. There were some things we were nervous about at first, but we pushed through it and worked through it," Steck said. "Our design team is one of the best design teams. They're so great and they work together very well. Me as a director, I'm doing OK. I think there are some things that I could do better but then also some things that I've done really well. It's just a learning experience. I'm glad that I had this opportunity to work through it."

"Almost, Maine" was chosen as a production for the River Campus based on the fact that many actors have done scenes from this play in their classes. The faculty read the script and decided that it would be a good fit for a River Campus show.

Williams said that the show is very "date friendly."

"It's the perfect date play to go and see," Williams said. "Also it's very, very funny. There's a lot of comedy that's in it, and then if you're really sick of the snow it's a great thing to see as well."

"Almost, Maine" opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Wendy Kurka Rust Flexible Theatre. The play will last through March 30. The show will start at 7:30 p.m. on March 27-29 and at 2 p.m. on March 30.