Auditions! Almost Maine- Middle School Edition!
Middle School Edition!
THE STORY: This is a Middle School version of John Cariani’s ALMOST, MAINE with language appropriate for conservative middle schools. Welcome to Almost, Maine, a place that’s so far north, it’s almost not in the United States. It’s almost in Canada. And it’s not quite a town, because its residents never got around to getting organized. So it almost doesn’t exist. One cold, clear, winter night, as the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, the residents of Almost, Maine, find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and hilarious ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter night’s dream.
Almost, Maine is a play by John Cariani, comprising nine short plays that explore love and loss in a remote, mythical almost-town called Almost, Maine.
Auditions- Sunday, December 11th from 5-7pm. Auditions will consist of readings from the script. We are looking to cast between 4-10 actors. If cast, the show fee is $195.00.
Rehearsals- The rehearsal schedule will be based on actor's availability. Each actor will be required to list all conflicts on their audition form. Rehearsals will take place on the weekends.
Ticketed performances- Friday, January 27th @ 7pm & Saturday, January 28th @ 7pm.
All rehearsals and performances will be at the NESPA studio in North Reading.
The scene descriptions below are from the fill version. The middle school version will be appropriate for middle school kids.
The scenes-
Prologue - Pete & Ginette
Ginette hopes to get emotionally closer to Pete, but Pete ruins the moment by proposing a new theory of closeness in which Ginette is as far away from him as she can possibly be.
Her Heart - East & Glory
Glory finds herself in East’s yard as she waits for the Northern Lights. She carries with her a paper bag, claiming it contains her heart, which is broken and made of slate. East tries to take her heart multiple times. Glory explains that her heart broke when her husband, Wes, went away with someone else. She had to go to the hospital and get an artificial heart. When Wes returned, saying he wanted her back, Glory said that her new heart didn't want him back. Wes was run over by an ambulance shortly thereafter. Glory allows East to try to fix the heart in her bag.
Sad and Glad - Jimmy & Sandrine
Sandrine enters an awkward situation after running into Jimmy, an ex. Jimmy tries to flirt with Sandrine before realizing that Sandrine is about to marry someone else. Sandrine notices Jimmy's tattoo, which says 'Villian', a misspelling of 'Villain'. After Sandrine leaves, Jimmy learns that the waitress is called Villian.
This Hurts - Steve & Marvalyn
Steve is incapable of feeling pain and explains to Marvalyn that his brother had to teach him what hurts and what to be afraid of. Marvalyn, who is going through a rough time with her boyfriend, kisses Steve, and accidentally hits him with an ironing board. Steve is hurt this time and exclaims "Ow", and the scene is left on a cliffhanger.
Getting It Back - Lendall & Gayle
Gayle and Lendall are breaking up. Gayle returns to Lendall the love he gave her, represented by large red bags. Gayle wants Lendall to return the love she gave him. Lendall does so, giving Gayle a very small red box. Gayle is disappointed to find that she seemingly gave Lendall much less love than he gave her. However, Lendall reveals that the box contains a ring and proposes to her. Gayle and Lendall get back together again.
Interlogue - Pete
Pete considers the consequences of his theory on closeness.
They Fell - Randy & Chad
Randy and Chad compare their previous dates, which both went very badly. Chad suddenly tells Randy that he loves him. Unable to reach each other emotionally, Randy and Chad repeatedly fall down when they look at each other. Sometimes this scene is two women, Shelly and Deena.
Where It Went - Phil & Marci
A married couple gets into an argument concurrently with Marci losing her shoe. As they break up, her shoe drops from the sky.
Story of Hope - Daniel & Hope
Hope goes to a house looking for a man named Daniel. A man answers. Hope explains that Daniel asked her if she would marry him, and she promised to give a response before sunrise, but never gave a response at all. Hope learns that the man is Daniel, but that he had lost hope and married someone else.
Seeing the Thing - Dave & Rhonda
Dave gives Rhonda a pointillism painting he made.
Epilogue - Pete & Ginette
Ginette returns to Pete, apparently having walked around the entire world over the course of the play.
Aside from a few references in dialogue to characters in other scenes, the stories are standalone and do not intertwine. Apart from the prologue/interlogue/epilogue section, the scenes can hypothetically be presented in any order but are written in the order above.
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