LOCAL
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
HeRMIsTOnHeRaLd.COM • A9
“Almost, Maine” explores all kinds of love
BY JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR
After spinning out wild
fantasies in “The Wizard
of Oz,” Hermiston High
School’s drama department
returns to the stage Friday
with a much more realistic
tone.
The high school’s pro-
duction of “Almost, Maine”
explores the idea of love in
all its forms as it weaves
together a series of short
plays showing nine differ-
ent couples during one cold
winter night in the town of
Almost, Maine.
“I like that it shows dif-
ferent types of love — unre-
quited love, new love, old
love,” sophomore Dezirae
Klaviter said. “It’s really
unique.”
Klaviter plays a wait-
ress who continually inter-
rupts an unexpected meet-
ing between a man and his
ex-girlfriend at a bar. She
said she enjoys her charac-
ter’s energy as she witnesses
the awkward encounter.
The romantic comedy’s
relatable themes of love
and life have made it the
most-produced high school
play in the past decade. Are-
lio Marin, who plays two
different men during the
show, said everyone should
be able to relate to at least
one of the couples portrayed.
Marin, a freshman, said
he particularly relates to the
scene where he plays Pete,
a “sort of nerdish guy” who
finds himself alone for the
first time with a friend he
is romantically attracted to,
and “screws it up.”
“I know where he’s com-
ing from,” Marin said. “It’s
his first time being alone
with a girl. They’ve prob-
ably only been on group
dates before.”
The show’s wide-ranging
look at love also includes a
married couple whose rela-
tionship is on the rocks, a
woman who lost her hus-
band and two women falling
in love with each other.
staff photo by e.J. Harris
Samantha Steffey, playing the character Sandrine, kisses Aurelio Marin, playing the character Jimmy, in scene two, Sad and
Glad, in a dress rehearsal for the Hermiston High School production of “Almost, Maine” on Monday in Hermiston.
The latter scene is one
that has drawn controversy
at some high schools. Direc-
tor Beth Anderson said when
the play was first announced
she had some concerned
calls from people who dis-
agreed with having LGBTQ
characters in a high school
play, and one adult who had
previously helped her with
shows declined to volunteer
with “Almost, Maine” due
to the scene.
The scene is chaste com-
pared to some of the other
couples’ performances fea-
turing kissing or sexual
innuendos. It uses charac-
ters literally falling down
as a metaphor for falling in
love.
“It’s absolutely the most
benign of all the plays,”
Anderson said.
She said the students
involved
in
“Almost,
Maine” had been mature,
TICKETS
“almost, Maine” will be
playing at Hermiston
High school Friday and
saturday (May 10-11) and
May 17-18 at 7 p.m. The
show is recommended
for audiences age 12
and older. Tickets are $5
for adults, $4 for senior
citizens 65 and older with
Id, and $2 for students.
staff photo by e.J. Harris
Marci Carrera applies makeup on actor Isabelle Herrera
backstage while getting ready for the dress rehearsal.
respectful and professional
about dealing with the more
grown-up moments of the
show, and no one was being
asked to do anything they
weren’t comfortable with
(some students, for exam-
ple, chose to fake “stage
kisses” while other scene
partners decided together
that they were comfortable
actually kissing each other
during rehearsals and the
show.)
Anderson asked the stu-
dents if they wanted to
remove the scene between
two women in order to
avoid controversy, but she
said they were adamant
that it was important to
include representation of
LGTBQ couples in a story
about all kinds of romantic
relationships.
The scene was origi-
nally written for two men,
but Anderson said few male
students tried out for the
play and she couldn’t find
any interested in playing
those roles, so the scene was
gender-swapped.
Jessica Ferguson, a
senior who plays one of the
women in the “gay scene,”
said she appreciated the
“wide variety” of love
shown in “Almost, Maine.”
She said she was playing her
role to the best of her ability
and wasn’t concerned about
possible negative reactions
as people watched her char-
acter process her feelings
for another woman.
“If you’re uncomfortable
with it, that’s a ‘you’ thing,”
she said.
Many of the scenes use
symbolism for love, such
as a woman who can’t tell
a painting is of a heart, just
like she doesn’t pick up on
the artist’s attraction to her.
Samuel Serber, who
plays three different men in
the show, including the art-
ist, said he loves that even
though the play uses so
many metaphors, there are
moments that feel very true
to life.
“I just loved the awk-
wardness of certain scenes,”
he said of the first time he
read the script. “It’s very
real. It’s not like TV drama
all the time, it’s just awk-
ward like real people.”
Other students said they
also liked that the show was
broken up into many smaller
plays, so they could focus
on perfecting one scene.
Allison Galdamez, a senior
who plays a woman who
wishes her boyfriend would
propose, said she liked that
she could participate with-
out having to memorize “a
whole bunch of parts.”
Isabella Herrera and Brid-
get Wizner both said they
related to their characters
when they got the part. They
said if there was a downside
to their roles, it was that their
scenes took place outside in
the dead of winter, meaning
they were sweating under
layers of winter coats and
scarves and sweaters under
the hot stage lights.
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