This February, this particularly large cast will take you to almost all the way to Maine. (Reporter photo by Bill Miller)
It’s almost a lot of things, but it’s all entertaining
By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
Nine stories surrounding the appearance of the Northern Lights focus on the theme of “almost” when Main Street Productions (MSP) stages Almost Maine at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., from Feb. 5 to 15.
The Reporter spoke to MSP Director Kathy Watson about things you can definitely expect in a play about nine almosts.
“It’s very different,” Watson told The Reporter. “It is nine vignettes instead of one whole play. All of the stories take place at the same time around town around 9 p.m. on a January Friday night. All the stories relate to love – some good, some bad. We’ve got new beginnings and maybe some endings, but then there’s a special moment which could be good or bad in each story when the Northern Lights put their magic into the mix.”
Almost Maine has a very large cast. Watson and her assistant director, Bill Miller, are juggling 17 actors for 19 roles.
“The play was written for four people but the playwright said you can use as many as you want,” Watson said. “I’ve seen the show in the past and, for me especially, the first time I was quite confused because I didn’t know it was vignettes. I thought it was one show and it was confusing to see the same actor come back out [as someone else] when I was expecting the storyline to continue. But they’re all their own separate little moments.”
With each vignette running 10 to 15 minutes, the large cast gives everyone involved a chance to be at center stage, but it also takes some of the pressure off for new actors.
“I thought this will help if it’s somebody new that usually has just a little bit part,” Watson said. “There’s only two people in these [vignettes], so they are actually like the lead in their story. One person that I have in this show was in the last show, Death of a Salesman, and she said she was in Act II for 17 seconds. That was her entire role! She has one of the longer stories in our show. I have two that are my favorites out of the nine, and she’s in one of them.”
While Watson’s take on this production is very friendly to new actors, she also has a lot of returning actors who have been involved in community theater for many years. Thanks to the quality of her directing and the playwright’s dialogue, actors have come from far and wide to be a part of this play.
“We have 17 actors coming from all around,” Watson said. We have some from Noblesville, some from Carmel, some from the south side and far west side of Indianapolis, and we have one person from Greenfield.”
In addition to Watson and Miller setting up an environment that so many actors want to be part of, there is also a performance with space set aside for those with impaired hearing to come enjoy the show.
“We’re having a special performance that will have an American Sign Language interpreter Sunday, Feb. 8,” Watson said. “If you purchase tickets online, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, we have a place where you can make comments. Just let us know you’re interested in that because there will be a designated section where those patrons will sit so that they can be right in front of the ASL interpreter.”
If you’d like to see the magic of the Northern Lights in Westfield, Almost Maine stages at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., from Feb. 5 to 15. Go to BasileWestfieldPlayhouse.org/showstickets or call (317) 402-3341 for tickets.
Reporter photos by Bill Miller
