Publicity photographs for the SUNY Orange production of "Almost Maine" on Oct. 17, 2019, in Orange Hall on the SUNY Orange campus in Middletown, N.Y.
Almost, Maine is located somewhere between Norman Rockwell and the northern lights that hover in the star-filled sky above. The people of Almost are honest and unsentimental, prepared for the vicissitudes of love by the stoicism and hardiness that Mainers are famous for. A series of gently told and amiably absurdist vignettes are fortified with humor and a touch of magic … like love itself.
A woman carries her heart, broken into 19 pieces, in a small paper bag. A man shrinks to half his former size, after losing hope in love. A couple keeps the love they have given each other in large red bags--or compress the mass into the size of a diamond. These playful and surreal experiences are commonplace in the world of Cariani’s Almost, Maine. Bended knees are bruised and hearts are broken with a sweetness and decency that’s rare in today’s theatre.