Almost, Maine by John Cariani has sat at the top of the “most produced plays in North America” lists for many years. There are a variety of different reasons for this fact, but to me, the most important reason is that the play is a marvelous love letter to love itself: love in all its awkward, messy, confusing, painful, joyful, transcendent glory.
The world is full of darkness and pain, a grim reality that can seem unalterable, but what I find so marvelous about this play is that it reminds us that, amidst the tragedy, love always persists, because it’s human nature to love. The sheer, magical, pulsing humanity at the core of this play is what pulls theatre practitioners and audiences to it, time after time. We know the characters in this play - we’ve all been at least one of them at some point in our lives, and if we haven’t, we will one day.
As an educator and director, I could not have asked for a more dedicated, playful, determined, and courageous group of young people to work on this play with. In many ways, I’m the newest member of this school, this program, this community, and so I am incredibly grateful that this play which celebrates a fictional tight-knit community could be my first journey with this very real tight-knit community.
My endless gratitude to the faculty, staff, and students of Lake Braddock who have withstood my countless questions as well as the bumps of my learning curve throughout the production process, but most especially: Laurie Perry, Kim Kennedy, Stacey Mitchell, Mike Luley, Dani Sayre, Teri Hampton, Vickie Sands, and RL Mirabal.
This is a magical play, not because of the magical elements of the writing, but because human beings can be magical. Every educator knows this, because we see it every day in our students - the little moments of connection, of understanding, of becoming themselves.
As adults, it's easy for us to forget that these magical moments do not stop when our school days do - every day of our lives we have opportunities to become even more of ourselves, whatever we choose that to mean. But of all the events, the stepstones and milestones, the defeats and the triumphs of life, nothing can impact that journey like love - love lost, love missed, and love found.
Thank you all for coming, and we hope you enjoy the show!
