Kirk Haas (left) of Inkster plays Chad and Chris Boudreau of Dearborn plays Randy in“They Fell,” a scene from the John Cariani romantic comedy, “Almost Maine.”
Meredith Ferry (left) of Allen Park plays Marci and James Kirwan of Dearborn plays Phil in “Where It Went,” a scene from the John Cariani romantic comedy, “Almost Maine.”
Linda Barsamian (left) of Novi plays the Woman and John Sczomak of Dearborn plays the Man in “The Story of Hope,” a scene from the John Cariani romantic comedy,“Almost Maine.” Also shown is director Paul Bruce (right) at the piano. Bruce composed original music for the interludes between scenes.
Margaret Kinnell (left) of Wayne plays Rhonda and Kenyada Davis of Detroit plays Dave in“Seeing the Thing,” a scene from the John Cariani romantic comedy, “Almost Maine.”
Photos by: Sue Suchyta
By SUE SUCHYTA
AN ALTERNATIVE MARCH MADNESS
The show runs for three weekends, March 2 to 18, with 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday shows and 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinees. For more information call (313) 561-TKTS or go to www.playersguildofdearborn.org.
Director Paul Bruce of Dearborn describes the show as a charming romantic comedy.
“It’s very brilliantly constructed,” Bruce said. “The author who put this together created a show that has 19 characters in it, and they all, with the exception of one scene, occur with only two people in each scene. Those two characters are then never seen for the rest of the evening.”
A TIME WARP
Bruce further explained that all of the scenes take place at the exact same time in the fictional small town.
He said that in every scene someone is either falling in or out of love or realizing they are right for each other, and that there are some clever things happening with the lighting and scenery that give the audience clues about what is occurring.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Bruce said the northern lights are part of the show’s magic, and credited the technical crew with creating some of the magic.
“We have some really wonderful tech people that are working on this show,” Bruce said. “I don’t want to give too much away, but the aurora borealis is integral to the plot.”
He added that the show was originally written for four people to play all 19 roles, but the author has noted in the script that he has no problem with each role being played by a different actor.
Bruce added that the large number of roles has made the play very popular with high schools and community theatres.
ALL STARS
“We have like the all star cast for this show,” Bruce said. “We really lucked out. We actually had 46 people audition for this show and there are only 19 roles. We had people that were so wonderful and had to turn them down because there just weren’t any more parts to go around and we have 19 of your Players Guild favorites, people that you see in a lot of shows here who are doing a fabulous job with this show.”
He added that while the show would likely have a PG-rating, he would encourage people to allow their teens to see the show.
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY PAUL BRUCE
Bruce added that he composed some original piano music for the show himself to save the Guild the expense of renting the music already available for the show, adding that while some of the music is used in the scenes, most is used between scenes.
“THEMES AND VARIATIONS ON A FROZEN NIGHT”
“I wrote a piece that’s just ‘Themes and Variations on a Frozen Night,’” Bruce said. “And that’s the music that we use to change our sets around.”
He said he wrote five different themes that audiences will hear multiple times during the run of the show.
CASTING FOR PRAISE
“We have a fabulous cast – they’re just incredible people (who have) done a magnificent job,” Bruce said. “A director couldn’t ask for better than what I’ve had here – a wonderful cast, wonderful crew (and) wonderful tech people.”
THE MAN -- AND THE STORY OF HOPE
John Sczomak of Dearborn, who plays a man who is surprised by a late night visitor on his doorstep in “The Story of Hope,” said he’s had a lot of fun rehearsing the scene.
THE WOMAN – HOPE
Linda Barsamian of Novi plays the woman who shows up on his doorstep late at night.
“My character is lacking things in life and she realizes that she missed the boat and so she comes back to Almost, Maine to look for the person that she could have spent her life with,” Barsamian said.
She added that her character was immature early in their relationship, and has “grown up” by the time this scene occurs.
Barsamian added that’s she’s happy to be on the Guild stage again, having last performed in “Bye. Bye, Birdie” about ten years ago.
THIS HURTS
Juliette Delabbio-Abbott of Allen Park, who last appeared on the Guild stage in “The Drowsey Chaperone” last spring, plays Marvalyn in the scene, “This Hurts.”
Her character is doing laundry when she meets Steve, who can’t feel pain.
“Throughout the course of the scene they discover things about each other and love and it’s very nice,” Delabbio-Abbott said.
She said that people will enjoy the show overall because it covers all aspects of love.
“There’s people falling in love, people breaking up, people discovering love that they never thought they’d ever feel,” Delabbio-Abbott said.
She added that she loves being part of such a unique and diverse cast.
WHERE IT WENT
The one scene that features a relationship on the rocks, “Where It Went,” has given Meredith Ferry of Allen Park a chance to play a less romantic character, Marci, who is filled with an inner turmoil about her relationship with her husband Phil. She said there is a lot of pent up frustrations toward each other that come out in the scene.
“It’s one of the few sad endings in this show,” Ferry said. “I think it’s the only break-up.”
She said that married people will see something to relate to in their characters.
“One thing I love about the whole show, this scene in particular is the realness of it,” Ferry said. “It’s so real – it’s almost too real.”
She hopes people take with them the same sense of realness after the final curtain.
“It’s so true to life,” Ferry said. “It’s just so exposing of all different types of relationships and it’s just real.”
She said the rehearsals have been fun, and she has wanted to work with director Paul Bruce for a while.
“It’s great to be back on the Guild stage, great to be working with Paul Bruce (and) great to be doing a show unlike any I’ve seen,” Ferry said.
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