Relive love’s near misses in PTL’s ‘Almost, Maine’

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Left to Right: Matt Carlson, Alex Weaver, Adam Smetana, Victoria Vega, Greg Rossbach, Ashley Daun, Mike Sansone, and Carli Wheeler star in Philip Lynch Theatre’s production of “Almost, Maine.” | Courtesy of PTL

A little bit of love and a lot of laughs is just the thing to forget about the February blahs.

Lewis University in Romeoville’s drama department presents, “Almost, Maine,” Feb. 17-19 and 23-26. Evening performances begin at 8 p.m., while Sunday matinees begin at 2:30 p.m. There will also be a 4 p.m. performance on Feb. 25.

“Almost, Maine” was written by John Cariani. It opened off-Broadway in 2005 and was honored by the new American National Theatre as one of the outstanding plays of 2004/2005. It is set in a small, fictional town in far northern Maine.

It is directed by professor of theatre Kevin Trudeau and produced by stage manager Jo Slowik. Members of the ensemble cast include: Greg Rossbach of Crete, Ashley Daun of New Lenox, Adam Smetana of Racine, Wis., Matt Carlson of Lockport, Alex Weaver and Victoria Vega of Burbank, and Carli Wheeler and Mike Sansone of Joliet.

The play is happy and bittersweet and looks at all different aspects of love, Slowik said. There are eight vignettes, each about 10 to 15 minutes long, where each character’s story is told.

“It takes place on a Friday night at 9 o’clock. It’s about all of these little slice of life moments,” she said. “The dramatic structure of the play is very cool.”

Almost is a fictional town filled with quirky characters, and the name plays into the themes of the play of almost falling in love, almost falling out of love, and the magic of a starry winter night, she said.

“It’s really cute and very popular,” she said of the play. It was the high school all-state show at the Illinois High School Theater Festival this year, she added.

“It’s the perfect show for a date night and for our February production because it falls so close to Valentine’s Day.”

One of her favorite scenes is between two close male friends. One thinks the other is falling in love with him. Instead he just falls.

“He literally falls to the ground. It’s like watching Chevy Chase on ‘Saturday Night Live’ constantly doing the pratfalls,” she said. “There’s another vignette where a woman goes to see her scorned lover, and brings a brown paper bag with the pieces of her broken heart. One girl brings all these bags — this is all the love you gave me and you can have it all back. It’s very cute.”