Almost, Maine at OTC

I recently went to Almost, Maine performed by Ozarks Technical Community College’s Fine Arts. Opening night was November 20th, and the show ran until November 24th. On two nights, teachers from OTC performed a scene in the play. There was a student playing guitar and singing for half an hour before the play started while people found their seats. Both admission and concessions were free. 

The play consists of nine different encounters right before a northern light show in a town that’s so small it’s “almost” a town. The production is a comedy and pretty goofy at face value, but if you read further into it, it’s expressing how amazing and how terrible love is. Watching it is an emotional rollercoaster. There are scenes that give you hope and make your heart flutter, and the next you’re crying. My personal favorite scene is where two best friends are sitting around drinking, talking about their relationship problems and how they aren’t sure they will ever find anyone. As one of them turns to leave, the other is just drunk enough to tell them that they’re in love with them. The best friend leaving initially is in shock, and even mad because she is focused on what everyone else would think as she tries to leave. As they’re walking out for the second time, the other falls to the ground. She turns and runs to them and they tell her they fell for her, then she also falls to the ground. Not all of the stories end happy, the play deals with death, cheating, breakups of happy couples, and staying in a failing marriage. 

The production was really well done, the actors did an amazing job embodying the two to three characters they had. The set was simple enough for all the scene changes without being boring. I was also really impressed with the attention to detail with the sound cues.