Just in time for Valentine’s Day, 1st Stage is producing a novel little valentine to Cupid, John Cariani’s “Almost, Maine,” which looks at a variety of couples in a series of scenes, all of them having some connection to love.
Set in the mythological town of Almost, Maine, the play points out that love is not the same thing for all people and that it is created according to need. Love may arrive swiftly, at first sight, with a sudden kiss. It may also disappear without warning, for no apparent reason.
Much of the charm of “Almost, Maine” comes from Cariani’s wry humor, his unique manner of making metaphors literal: A girl with a broken heart carries her heart in a paper bag; two characters who fall in love literally can’t stand up when near each other. But even the most outrageous verbal contrivances are acceptable in this topsy-turvy world.
The first scene is between a girl named Glory (Megan Dominy) and a boy named Easton (Jonathan Lee Taylor). Glory is a hiker who has come to Almost to see the northern lights in honor of her boyfriend, who has died. While waiting to see the sky light up, the confused Glory finds love anew.
| Onstage |
| ‘Almost, Maine’ |
| Where: 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Road, McLean |
| When: Through Feb. 26 |
| Info: $15 to $25; 703-854-1856; 1ststagespringhill.org |
In one of the funniest scenes, a straightforward snowmobile enthusiast named Rhonda (Dominy) allows Dave (Taylor) to introduce her to the delights of romance. Dominy’s transformation from uninitiated kisser to passionate lover makes this the funniest sketch in the play.
There are two other actors in “Almost, Maine,” and each plays five roles. Jessica Shearer is delightful as the young woman who meets up with an ex-boyfriend (Elliott Kashner) on the eve of her wedding. Shearer and Kashner are also an excellent pair as a woman who returns home looking for the man who once proposed to her. Cariani creates a marvelously poignant sense of missed opportunity and wrong choices.
As directed by Michael Chamberlin, “Almost, Maine” has a restful tempo, alternating quicker comic scenes with slower-paced, more serious ones.
A large part of the charm of “Almost, Maine” is that it is completely unpretentious. It doesn’t seek to be a deep, psychological analysis of how the heart makes its choices, but instead is meant to simply reflect on a human scale the ups and downs, the surprises, delights and disappointments of love.
