USD Theatre’s ‘Almost Maine’

A real romantic comedy in Camino Hall

JESSICA MILLS / ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

This past weekend, one of USD’s Theatre courses “THEA-494: Making a Play,” put on a final class project of “Almost, Maine” with five sold-out shows. The play was written by John Carinani, well known as forensic expert Julian Beck in “Law and Order” and was directed by Adjunct Assistant Professor and professional director, Lisa Berger. 

Showcased in the intimate Vassiliadis Black Box Theatre (Camino 131), the production opened with USD sophomore Carly O’Rear’s acoustic guitar playing and singing underneath a star-covered night. In addition to the prologue and epilogue, the play’s eight scenes navigated separate depictions of love, with nine different couples. 

All the events transpire over the same 10 minutes of a Friday night in the rural and unmarked town of Almost, Maine. But in actuality, the play is just under two hours and covers subjects that range from heartbreak, pain, breakups, friendship, queerness, falling in love (literally), loneliness, sex, consent and much more. 

USD senior and House Manager Clara Rasmussen helped work on the designs for the production. 

“The play had nine different sections, and there were nine people in the class so we each got our own miniature play to design,” Rasmussen said. “So I got to create all the costumes, I got to design props, what sound and light would look like for the prologue, interlogue and epilogue, and everyone else got one of their own scenes.” 

Rasmussen thought that the play was a success. 

“I thought it was cool seeing everything come together at the end,” Rasmussen said. “We’ve been meeting this whole semester, whereas the actors met in the last half of the semester. In the beginning, we didn’t know who was in the play. In the last month, there’s been like 20 new things, some things painted a different color, usually a new set piece. [The play] transformed so fast.” 

Labeled as a “real romantic comedy” the play featured lots of hugging, kissing, the Northern Lights, awkward interactions and one long-winded undressing scene between USD senior James Carroll and O’Rear. Director Lisa Berger brought on Intimacy Director Kandace Crystal to help facilitate specific scenes, consent and expectations. 

The New York Film Academy explains that intimacy coordinators create an “environment in which actors understand what is expected of them in hyper-exposed scenes and ensures there is informed consent.”

USD senior Christy Dodson, who played Glory and Shelly in “Almost, Maine,” appreciated having a coordinator on set. 

“The woman that we had come [Kandace Crystal], she was so amazing and helped us take control of what our red flags are, what we’re not comfortable with, vs. yes, ‘you can touch me here’ or ‘yellow: let’s talk through this.’ Having her made us all so much more comfortable,” Dodson said. 

Dodson’s favorite scene took place between her character Shelly and Deena, played by USD sophomore Satvika Nitya, Assistant A&C Editor at The Vista. The two female characters awkwardly explore the boundaries of their friendship when comparing horror stories over their worst dates with men. 

The scene, however, took a turn when Shelly admits her feelings for her best friend and abruptly falls in love with Deena, literally falling to the ground. 

“I was super happy when I was cast as Shelly because I just feel like bringing [queer representation] to USD is really good,” Dodson said. “It’s cute and awkward to admit that you like somebody, especially when you’re queer.” 

USD junior and Stage Manager Sydney Gager facilitated the creative and technical aspects of the play. 

“So much of stage management — the rehearsal reports, making sure that actors are getting their notes, designers are getting their notes, it’s all communication,” Gager said. “When I’m in the booth I’m telling Josh, our lighting board operator and designer with help from the other design students, when to make the lights go, and I’m telling Jacob, our sound operator, when to make those go. I’ve stage managed before, but it was really nice doing this as a class because I got to ask Lisa to pay special attention to my reports — looking at if I was being too detailed, not detailed enough, and so it really was a learning experience for all of us.” 

Gager also enjoyed Berger’s approach to directing. 

“Lisa is really into this form of acting, which is the way I think acting should be, that’s all about listening and being really real, and I think this is such a good play for that,” Gager said. “If you’re not really listening, you can’t really love someone.” 

As stated by Berger’s note from the director, “The people of Almost, Maine are hardworking, ordinary, honest and true humans.”

For  Gager, this note explained the play’s major themes. 

“I think what I really like about this play, in the script there’s the author talking about love, and he talks about how it’s love for normal people,” Gager said. “I like that the scenes are each different ways of experiencing love, and none of them are more or less valid than the other.” 

From learning when to leave a relationship and finding one’s place in the world to double-checking the spelling before getting a permanent tattoo, many lessons can be learned from the people of Almost, Maine.