ICC’s production of “Almost, Maine” opens with an almost full house
Only a couple seats were unfilled at the opening night of this semester’s ICC play “Almost, Maine,” which took place yesterday at 7:30 p.m.
At the end of the play, the cast of “Almost, Maine” was met with loud applause from the audience, who had previously been laughing at the comedic scenes.
“This play is really well-written, and it’s been produced hundreds, if not thousands of times at this point,” Dale Young, director of the play and ICC’s Dean of Arts and Behavioral Sciences, said. “My take on it is that we can’t let it be overly cute; we can’t let it be overly sentimental. It’s silly, but it’s not ridiculous, and it can’t be super serious. Because when people get into moments where they are fighting and disagreeing, they try really hard not to be serious, right? So that was the big thing. And the other thing was, we all could use a little bit of love right now.”
Young has been acting and directing professionally since 1981, with “Almost, Maine” being the first production he has directed at ICC. Young said he is open to directing another play at ICC, but he said there are other members of the faculty who want to direct as well.
“There is going to be a lot of good stuff happening in the theater program,” Young added.
Ten students were cast in ICC’s production of “Almost, Maine”: Alexander Soza, Ollie Johnson, Kellen Porter, Tomas Cruz, Zachary Webb, Jade Hale, Natalie Bashusen, Olivia Bird, Carly Lindsey, and Hannah Brown.
“It is such a unique show in the way that it just changes every single scene,” said Brown, who plays Gayle and Shelly. “I think my favorite part of it is the fact that all of these things happen at the same time in the same town, just showing how much can happen in one night and how many relationships can change over the course of one night. It is just really beautiful to see.”
Brown said that they and their fellow cast members have gotten closer throughout the process of putting on this production.
“Even though our scenes don’t happen at the same time and a lot of us aren’t on the same stage at the same time, we have gotten so close just bonding over scenes, running lines,” Brown said. “We like to stay in the same place at the same time a lot of the time, just to be around each other. They [the rest of the cast] were in a show before this, and coming into what they already had going on, it was really welcoming and awesome. I have learned so much from them.”
Both Brown and Young encourage people to come to see “Almost, Maine,” with Brown saying, “it is a performance you will never forget.”
There are four more performances of “Almost, Maine,” with tickets still available for each. One performance will happen tonight at 7:30 p.m. Two more performances will happen tomorrow, with one at 12:30 p.m. and another at 7:30 p.m. The final performance will be on Saturday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets can be bought here.