Almost, Maine is a romantic comedy written by John Cariani. The play spotlights 19 cast members who all experience the different stages of relationships. In this play strangers become friends, friends will become lovers, and lovers turn into strangers.
The play is directed by ELA teacher Ms. Brooke Barfield, and it will be her third time directing it at HHS. While there will be some changes to the play, according to Barfield “We don’t lose anything.”
“This version is a little different from the version I performed in the past,” Barfield said. “It had some PC (politically correct) changes that needed to be made based on cultural changes. In regards to us changing anything, we are doing a little bit of editing to make it more PG-13. We are making the ending more age-appropriate ending it sooner.”
Almost, Maine is “packed full of emotion,” Barfield said, and can teach the audience a lesson on being aware of other people’s struggles.
“I kind of feel like this play shows us all how every day we are all facing battles at the same time, but we are blissfully unaware of the struggles of others,” Barfield said.
This show is “easy to get lost in” as you get to understand the motives behind the characters. “I like that I can rehearse two people at a time and really talk about the characters and the motivation driving them,” Barfield said.
Freshman Emma Case plays the roles of Hope and Villian in her first high school play and is looking forward to getting into character.
“I’m most looking forward to tech week (surprisingly) because I’m so excited to see how the costumes, props, stage setups, and sound effects/lights will come together to form an actual play instead of our regular rehearsals in the past,” Case said.
As Case plays the role of two characters, she must learn how to change her body language, voice, and personality to fit both characters.
“I think some of the biggest obstacles I’ve faced throughout the process are learning what body movements to do at different parts of the scene, and also being able to create an obvious difference between my two different characters,” Case said.
Regardless of the obstacles she faced, with practice came success for Case as she “feels confident with performing without messing up.”
Senior Hulan Billups is playing the role of Chad in what will be his second play in his high school career. Billups would recommend that all students should “Stop considering, just go for it and try it out.”
“At first, I never considered joining acting and was just put in an acting class. Now I love it and enjoy being on stage and interacting with the cast,” Billups said.
The Spotlight Players will perform Almost, Maine on November 16th-18th starting at 7 PM in HS Performance Art room 103. Admission will be free, and concessions will be sold before the show and during intermission.
