This year’s spring featurette from Eudora High School, “Almost, Maine,” will depict themes of love and loss when it premieres Thursday.
The play depicts the love lives of the various residents of the fictitious small town of Almost, Maine.
“Basically, it’s a story of people who are falling in and out of love, in sometimes hysterical ways,” director and school counselor Lisa Moffitt said. “And there’s a little bit of sort of magic and lightheartedness to it, too.”
The cycle of love will play out in two acts through eight scenes, each of which centers on a single couple.
The 16 characters will be played by 13 students. Senior Steven Brown is among the actors who will play two roles.
“I’m playing Phil, who is a husband who is kind of unhappy with his life [as well as] Lendall, who hasn’t been married yet and is kind of confused about what his girlfriend wants,” Brown said.
Brown has performed in the school’s prior productions and is exploring the world of improv through the Lawrence Arts Center.
Junior Audrey Mach said playing the role of Marci, Phil’s wife, caused her to step out of her comfort zone.
“I’ve never really had to play like a really angry role that involved a lot of yelling until this one,” said Mach, who starred as Cinderella in last year’s musical.
Behind the scenes, four crew members have been hard at work lighting the sets, creating the poster and designing the programs.
Responsibility for the play’s lighting falls to freshman Sawyer Harding, whom Moffitt says has excelled in the role.
“He’s doing a great job and is very responsible [and] easy to work with,” she said.
Harding, who has previously worked on productions at the Lawrence Arts Center, said the greatest challenge is producing the proper lighting effects for each scene.
“There’s a lot of blocking that’s all around the stage, so it’s just kind of hard to light everybody all at once and get the same effect,” Harding said.
Moffitt said the play’s untraditional scene layout allows each of the actors to portray a main role, which was why this was selected for production.
“I really loved this play, for the reason of everybody getting their chance to shine,” Moffitt said. “We have a lot of talent, and a lot of people that are interested in theater, and it was nice to see that like, Steven, who wants to go on and do theater post-secondary, gets an opportunity to do some different characters.”
The cast and crew is excited for audiences to experience love’s highs and lows. Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
“The most rewarding part about really any play is just bringing joy to other people,” Mach said.
All performances will be at the Performing Arts Center and will feature a 10-minute intermission. Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the door.
Reach reporter Jen Smith at [email protected]
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