Almost, Maine
January 12 - February 7
Extended through February 14
By John Cariani
Directed by Skip Greer
A co-production with Syracuse Stage
“Magical happenings bloom beneath the snowdrift.”
The New York Times
The Story:
When true love comes knocking, will you answer?
On a cold, clear, moonless night, in the mythical town of Almost, Maine, its residents find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected, sometimes hilarious, always heart-filled ways. A surprising and funny midwinter romance. When true loves comes knocking at the door, will you answer?
The Experience:
A valentine to love: requited, un- and everywhere in between.
Performance Calendar
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | |||||||
| 12 | January | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | ||||||||
| 7:30 PM | 7:30 PM | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 2:00 PM | |||||||||
| 8:00 PM | |||||||||||||
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |||||||
| 2:00 PM | 6:00 PM | 7:30 PM | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 4:00 PM | ||||||||
| 7:00 PM | 8:30 PM | ||||||||||||
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||||||
| 2:00 PM | 7:30 PM | 7:30 PM | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 4:00 PM | ||||||||
| 7:00 PM | 8:30 PM | ||||||||||||
| 31 | 1 | February | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||||
* |
2:00 PM | # |
7:30 PM | 7:30 PM | 2:00 PM | ^ |
7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 4:00 PM | ||||
| 7:00 PM | 7:30 PM | 8:30 PM | |||||||||||
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |||||||
| 2:00 PM | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 4:00 PM | ||||||||||
| 7:00 PM | 8:30 PM | ||||||||||||
| 14 | |||||||||||||
| 2:00 PM | *Audio-Description Performance January31 @ 2:00 PM |
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| 7:00 PM | #Stage Door Project Performance February 1 @ 7:30 PM |
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^Sign-Interpretation Performance February 4 @ 7:30 PM |
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Plan your visit
Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission.
Prologue: a pre-show lecture is offered free of charge one hour prior to every performance. (An abbreviated Prologue is given 30 minutes prior to curtain on Opening Night.)
Student Matinee performances are available:click here for more information.
Special events and services during this production
- Opening Night, Saturday, January 16, 8:00PM
- Early Curtain Tuesday, January 19, 6:00PM
- Audio-Described performance: January 31, 2:00PM
- Stage Door Project: Almost, Maine: February 1 at 7:30
- Sign-Interpreted performance: February 4, 7:30PM
- Sunday Salon: February 10, 2:00PM
Dining & Entertainment
Click here to check out the Geva Café or look below for more options in the area!
Eros Restaurant |
The Trip Hammer Grill |
Siam Fine Thai Cuisine |
Tasteful Connections Catering |
The Little Theatre |
Palladio Restaurant |
Edibles Restaurant |
Pomodoro Grill & Wine Bar |
Golden Port |
Skip’s reflections on casting
December 23, 2009
And off we go – the actors are here and ready to work. Let me introduce you to this talented cast – they are David Mason, Alexis McGuinness, Patrick Noonan and Regan Thompson. All of them are new to Geva with the exception of Patrick who was here in 2007 as a member of the cast of Our Town.
I chose these actors because each of them provided a wonderful spectrum of shading that I was looking for, moving from light to dark and comedic to dramatic. They embraced the spirit of Maine and understood that each of the several characters they play do not need to be reinvented – rather, they are embodied, capturing the rhythm and spirit of the characters.
I am very excited to be working with this cast – they all seem so willing to take risks and to play. And that willingness is what is going to take this play where it needs to go.
-Skip Greer (Director)
Bios for Almost, Maine
DAVID MASON (Pete, Steve, Lendall, Chad, Dave) makes his Geva Theatre Center debut in Almost, Maine. Other regional credits include Almost, Maine at Shadowland Theatre; Last Gas by John Cariani at Portland Stage Little Festival; The Last Mass At St. Casimir's and Almost, Maine at the Public Theatre in Lewiston; Enchanted April, It's A Wonderful Life and Lumberjacks in Love at the Majestic Theater; Arcadia, Arsenic and Old Lace, Kimberly Akimbo, Kong's Night Out, Sight Unseen, The Underpants, Lobby Hero, The Boys Next Door, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, An Inspector Calls, The Big Apple and All in the Timing at the New Century Theatre and Jerry Finnegan's Sister at Mt. Holyoke Summer Theatre, Foothills Theatre. Recent NYC credits include The Three Hagi Sisters at the Japan Society; Sky at Impact Theatre Festival; Two Rooms at Red Fern Theatre; Barbara Bush Never Slept Here and Kalighat at Circle East; L'esprit D'escalier at the Chip Deffaa Invitational; New York at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Civilian Studios National Theatre for the Handicapped; Mae and Her Stories at Primary Stages; The Breaking Light with Present Company and This Will Be the Death of Him for NativeAliens.
ALEXIS McGUINNESS (Glory, Waitress, Marvalyn, Marci, Suzette, Rhonda) makes her Geva Theatre Center debut in Almost, Maine. Recent credits include The 49 Project (Fringe NYC), Waxing West at La MaMa, Bucharest and Sibiu, Romania and Stockholm, Sweden, The Lacy Project at the Ohio Theatre, Half of Plenty at SPF, The Drama League's Directors Project of Itamar Moses' Authorial Intent and Abandon at La MaMa. Regional credits include Twelfth Night at Milwaukee Shakespeare and Safe in Hell at Yale Repertory Theatre. She has studied at NTI/Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and the Guthrie Theater, has a B.A. in Theater from Dartmouth College and an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.
REGAN THOMPSON (Ginette, Sandrine, Gayle, Hope) is thrilled to be making her Geva Theatre Center debut. Off-Broadway credits include Theophilus North with Keen Company. NYC and other regional credits include A Christmas Story at Pioneer Theatre Company, Bad Dates at Hangar Theatre, The Elephant Man and The Crucible at Northern Stage, Crimes of the Heart at Playmakers Repertory Company, Theophilus North at Dorset Theatre Festival, As You Like It and Julius Caesar at North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Vanities at Penguin Repertory Company, Deja Vu at Caldwell Theatre Company, Dracula at Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Proof at the Depot Theatre, I Vermin at NYC Fringe Festival, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King John, and Julius Caesar at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Television appearances include "As the World Turns" and "Law & Order: SVU." Ms. Thompson received her M.F.A. in Acting from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival P.A.T Program/University of Alabama.
PATRICK NOONAN (East, Jimmy, Randy, Phil, Daniel) was last at Geva Theatre Center as Howie Newsome in Our Town. He performed Almost, Maine Off-Broadway and is excited to be playing in that world once more with such a fantastic company. A proud veteran of the longest running play in America, he starred in over 1,500 performances of Shear Madness and just finished another successful run over the summer with the Capital Repertory Theater. Mr. Noonan spent the prior year working extensively with the Florida Studio Theater starring in Jewtopia, The Mystery Of Irma Vep and Edward Albee's Occupant. TV credits include "30 Rock," several "Law & Orders," "Life on Mars," "The Black Donnellys," "Hope and Faith," and "The Guiding Light." Film credits include The Princess Diaries, Frame of Mind, and the soon to be released horror movie Choose.
JOHN CARIANI (Playwright) is an actor as well as a playwright. Almost, Maine, his first play, was developed by the Cape Cod Theatre Project in 2002, premiered at Portland Stage Company (Portland, Maine) in 2004, and went on to become the most successful play in Portland Stage’s history: it sold out its run and garnered critical acclaim. The Wall Street Journal recognized Almost, Maine as one of best regional theatre productions of the 2004-2005 season, and the new American National Theatre honored Almost, Maine as one of the outstanding plays of the 2004-2005 regional theatre season. Almost, Maine opened off-Broadway in early 2006 at the Daryl Roth Theatre and is featured in Smith and Kraus' New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2006. As an actor, Mr. Cariani has appeared on and off Broadway, and in several films and television shows. Originally from Presque Isle, Maine, he is a graduate of Amherst College, and now lives in New York City.
SKIP GREER (Director) serves as Artist in Residence and Director of Education at Geva Theatre Center. His directing credits at Geva include the world premiere of The House in Hydesville, Doubt, American Buffalo, Inherit the Wind, Key West, Death of a Salesman, Lobby Hero, Below the Belt, The Weir, Women Who Steal, Beast on the Moon, Triumph of Love and Geometric Digression of the Species. He directed King Lear at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Other regional directing credits include Studio Arena Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Sacramento Theatre Company, State Theatre of Austin and Gary Marshall’s Falcon Theatre, where he directed Golf with Alan Shepard starring Jack Klugman and Charles Durning. Mr. Greer has also been an actor at Geva appearing in Evie’s Waltz (Clay), Our Town (the Stage Manager), Hamlet (Ghost/Player King), 1776 (John Hancock), House and Garden (Giles), Art (Serge), Twelve Angry Men (Juror #1), A Girl’s Life (Ken and Louis Pasteur), Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (Alexander), The Illusion (Alcandre), Picasso at the Lapine Agile (Sagot) and State of the Union (Spike McManus). Regional credits include seven seasons in the resident acting company of Sacramento Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts. Film and TV credits include "Bloodhounds," "LA Law" and "VR5." Mr. Greer has toured Europe, Africa, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands, teaching and performing.
DIPU GUPTA (Scenic Designer) makes his Geva Theatre Center debut with Almost, Maine. He is a Bay Area set designer and architect and has designed for companies throughout the country including for the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Pacific, Berkshire Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Rep, the Julliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Gotham Chamber Opera, and two productions for Opera Africa in Johannesburg. As an architect, he has designed buildings in New York, New Hampshire, California, Montana and New Mexico. His interior design work in New York City has been published. He studied art history and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, went on to earn a Masters of Architecture at the University of Virginia and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is on the faculty of the University of California as an Artist in Residence.
PAMELA SCOFIELD (Costume Designer) has designed over thirty productions for Geva Theatre Center; including last season’s The Ladies Man. She has designed for regional theatres across the country, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Syracuse Stage, Asolo Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Theatreworks Palo Alto, Goodspeed Opera, Berkshire Theatre Festival. New York credits include Off-Broadway productions of Almost, Maine; Over the River and Through the Woods; A Fine and Private Place; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; and The Summer of ‘42. Ms. Scofield designed the national tour and Madison Square Garden productions of Cinderella, starring Eartha Kitt, and has designed several editions of the Grammy Awards at Radio City Music Hall. She is the designer for dramatic dancer Joan Evans, who performs internationally, and with whom she shares a Fringe First award from the Edinburgh Festival and an NEA grant for collaborative performance. Presently she is working on designs for Touch(ed), a new play for Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Theatre.
KENDALL SMITH (Lighting Designer) returns to Geva Theatre Center where he has designed numerous productions including Doubt and Inherit the Wind. Theatre credits include Indiana Repertory Theatre; Pioneer Theatre; Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C; Weston Playhouse; Merrimack Repertory Theatre; North Shore Music Theatre; Brunswick Music Theatre; Connecticut Repertory Theatre; Barter Theatre; and American Stage Festival. Regional Opera companies include San Diego Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Michigan Opera, Minnesota Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, San Antonio Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Virginia Opera, Dayton Opera, and Eugene Opera. As the Resident Designer for Michigan Opera Theatre for the last twenty years, Mr. Smith has designed over 55 productions.
DAN ROACH (Sound Designer) has worked on sound for numerous productions at Geva Theatre Center since 1988. Most recent productions include A Christmas Story, Doubt, Dial M for Murder, A Christmas Carol, The Underpants and 9 Parts of Desire. He studied sound at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and has been applying that knowledge to theatre over the past two decades. He always looks forward to working on shows at Geva and greatly appreciates being surrounded by the dedicated actors, designers, directors and staff that have been a hallmark of Geva productions. He currently works full-time for the Hillside Family of Agencies as their webmaster and is grateful for their flexibility in providing time to pursue his love of theatre and sound design. He lives in Rochester with his lovely wife Jing, who he found at the end of his journey around this wonderful world.
JOHN ZERETZKE (Composer) returns to Geva where he composed music for 9 Parts of Desire, Beast on the Moon and Death of a Salesman. He has composed music for the Royal Danish Ballet, the Ohio Ballet, the Ice Theater of New York, and Ballet Folklorico del Pacifico. Mr. Zeretzke’s score for the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago was featured in Robert Altman’s docu-drama The Company. He has composed original scores to The Tempest, As You Like It, King Lear for Shakespeare Santa Cruz. He’s recorded for Paramount Pictures, Disney, Discovery Channel and Kushner-Locke Productions for Sleepy Hollow, Cold Sassy Tree, The Crow, AmericaEast, Solomon and Sheba, Streetfighter, Mortal Combat and Delta of Venus. In 1999, he won the P.A.S.A. Award, (Professional Artist Service Award), a lifetime achievement award for his work in arts education in the state of California. He is associated with numerous educational organizations including the Music Center of Los Angeles County, Orange County Performing Arts Center, The California Arts Project and Ronald McDonald’s Summer Camps for children with cancer. Mr. Zeretzke received the highest Medal of Honor from the White Helmets of the United Nations for peace keeping in the world today for his program, Flutes Across the World, during its July 2009 humanitarian mission to the southern Philippines.
JEAN GORDON RYON (Dramaturg) serves as New Plays Coordinator at Geva Theatre Center where, among other duties, she produces the Regional Writers Showcase and the Young Writers Showcase. She was dramaturg for 1776, John Bull’s Other Island, That Was Then, Shear Madness, The Underpants, The Clean House and A Christmas Story, and she has contributed dramaturgical research and written program articles for several other productions. Ms. Ryon holds a degree in drama from Tufts University and a master’s degree in Arts Administration from Goucher College. Her most recent directing credits in the community include Grace and Glorie, Master Class, Blithe Spirit, Pride’s Crossing, and The Gin Game for Blackfriars, The Chosen and The Immigrant for JCC’s CenterStage, and for RCP’s Irish Players, Juno and the Peacock, Da, Translations, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Waiting for Godot, The Kings of the Kilburn High Road, Dancing at Lughnasa, Faith Healer, The Hostage, and Love in the Title. Ms. Ryon is also the Artistic Director of The Geriactors, a traveling troupe of mature actors.
JANINE WOCHNA (Stage Manager) is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, is delighted to return to Geva Theatre Center after serving as stage manager for The Clean House, Evie’s Waltz; ROOMS: a rock romance, The Piano Lesson, Bad Dates, Doubt and The Underpants, and assistant stage manager for Souvenir, Fences, Sweeney Todd, A Christmas Story, Menopause the Musical, Cabaret and A Christmas Carol. Regional theatre credits include The Rainmaker and Rounding Third, Tuesdays with Morrie, Broadway Bound, Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Middle Ages, My Three Angels, and A Dash of Rosemary (Florida Rep); Tea at Five with Kate Mulgrew, Leading Ladies (Ken Ludwig), Last Night of Ballyhoo, A Kiss for Cinderella, and Two Trains Running to name a few, as well as seven seasons as Production Stage Manager of the Next Stage Festival of New Plays (Cleveland Play House). Other regional credits include Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Indiana Rep), All the King’s Men (Arkansas Rep), Annie (Carousel Dinner Theatre), and Always...Patsy Cline and Forbidden Broadway (Hanna Cabaret). A proud member of Actors’ Equity Association since 1994, Ms. Wochna is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
KIRSTEN BRANNEN (Assistant Stage Manager) celebrates her ninth season with Geva Theatre Center, over which she has stage managed Souvenir, 3 Mo’ Divas; Fences; Sweeney Todd; A Christmas Story; Ella; Pride and Prejudice; Cabaret; Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure; Urinetown, the Musical; Our Town; Dial M for Murder; Inherit the Wind; Shear Madness; The Road Home: Re-Membering America; A Chorus Line; That Was Then; Broadway Bound; Camelot; Death of a Salesman; Biloxi Blues; 1776; 36 Views; Cookin’ at the Cookery; Convenience; Flyin’ West; Hibernatus Interruptus: A Festival of New Plays and A Christmas Carol 2001-2006. She was a stage manager for nine years at PCPA Theaterfest in Santa Maria, California. At PCPA, she served as the Production Stage Manager and taught the stage management curriculum. She was a stage manager for such productions as My Fair Lady, 42nd Street, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Gypsy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Who’s Tommy and the World Premiere of The Daly News. Originally from Victor, she is very happy to again make her home in the Rochester area. Ms. Brannen is a graduate of Ithaca College and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
ELISSA MYERS & PAUL FOUQUET, CSA (Casting Directors) Mr. Fouquet, a Rochester native, is honored to be recognized as a Geva Associate Artist. This marks the 13th year of Myers’ and Fouquet’s collaboration with Geva Theatre Center. Broadway casting credits include eight shows over the past decade including the Tony-nominated Having Our Say and fifteen Off- Broadway shows. Regional casting includes six Tony Award- winning theatres including McCarter, Berkeley Repertory, Seattle, Alabama Shakespeare, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Denver Center and many more. TV/Film credits include three "Movies of the Week" (with Tyne Daly, Claire Danes, Christopher Reeve, Ed Asner and Daniel J. Travanti), five pilots and two PBS specials by Wendy Wasserstein and Terrence McNally (with Bernadette Peters, Nathan Lane, Blythe Danner, Spike Lee and Paul Sorvino), as well as the Peabody-Award winning mini-series "Liberty," the Emmy Award-winning "Benjamin Franklin" and "John & Abigail Adams."
SYRACUSE STAGE
Syracuse Stage is Central New York's premier professional theatre. Founded as a not-for-profit theatre in 1974 by Arthur Storch, Stage has produced more than 220 plays in 35 seasons including numerous world and American premieres. Each season upwards of 90,000 patrons enjoy an exciting mix of comedies, dramas and musicals featuring the finest professional theatre artists. In addition, Stage maintains a vital educational outreach program that annually serves nearly 30,000 students from 24 counties.
In its storied history, Stage has hosted some of American theatre's leading performers including Tony Award-winner Elizabeth Franz, Emmy recipient Jean Stapleton, Sam Waterston, John Cullum, James Whitmore, and Ben Gazzara. As a thriving LORT regional theatre, Stage attracts leading designers, directors and performers from New York and leading regional theatres around the country. Their artistry and professionalism inform the quality of Syracuse Stage's productions. These visiting artists are supported by a full-time and seasonal staff of artisans, technicians and administrators who are responsible for all facets of the theatre from building sets, props and costumes to marketing, development and box office. At the height of the season, Syracuse Stage has a staff of more than 80 employees.
A solid core of subscribers and donors helps keep Syracuse Stage a vibrant artistic presence in Central New York. Year after year their support and patronage contribute to the success of the theatre. Additional support from government, foundations and corporations helps to ensure the continued role of Syracuse Stage as a valued cultural resource for the community. As we welcome new Producing Artistic Director Timothy Bond and new Managing Director Jeffrey Woodward, the staff of Syracuse Stage looks forward to continuing to produce the highest quality professional theatre for our community.
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75 Woodbury Boulevard | Rochester, NY 14607
Administrative Office: (585) 232.1366
Box Office: (585) 232.GEVA (4382)
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