The Sonoma County Repertory Theater, familiarly known as The Rep, just finished its run of Almost, Maine by John Cariani. I saw it on Friday with Tracy and Julie. We had seats in the first row. This wasn’t because we were late but because when I called to reserve seats I mentioned that one of us was several months pregnant (like, eight) and the woman on the other end of the phone said, “Oh, then she’ll probably be more comfortable in the first row.”
The Main Street Theater is a very small theater (98 seats) and the front row in almost on the stage, so it was an interesting place to sit.
Four actors play multiple roles in this charming collection of stories about relationships, set in a small town. The characters do not interact directly across scenes, but many scenes have mentions of characters we’ve encountered previously, enhancing the small-town, circle-of-friends feel. The play is sweet and the vignettes run from slapstick-sweet to funny-sweet, to sad-sweet to poignant.
The Rep does a great job with set design in this tiny space. For Almost, they had a shingled cabin wall with a door on one side, and a number of evergreen trees and deciduous trees, spangled with snow. They used the lights to emulate the stars and the aurora borealis, which plays a part in one of the vignettes.
The title is a clue that the writer enjoys plays on words. In an early scene, a woman has come to see the northern lights as a way to say good-bye to her dead ex. She meets a man named Easton, East for short. The final line of the scene is hers, as she shouts into the sky, “Good-bye, Wes!” then looks at her new friend and says, “Hello, East.” In another sequence, a mis-spelled tattoo provides the starting place for a new love affair. Many scenes have a symbolic or metaphysical aspect to them; plays on literally falling in love, carrying around a broken heart, and bringing back to your boyfriend “all the love he gave you” (several large red sacks).
The four actors, Andrea Day, Liz Jahren, Tim Kniffen and Dan Saski, all played the material to the top of their games. I laughed a lot. If I was disappointed at all, it was by some of the characterizations. Is it just me, or are local girl Hope and say-good-bye-to-Wes-Texan Glory (Hope and Glory, surely that’s not a coincidence) very close to being the same character? Andrea Day played both of them, but the similarity ran deeper than that.
It’s a minor quibble for a play that provided an entertaining evening; lots of laughing, a few moments of getting choked up as you saw where the relationship was going. It wasn’t the kind of play that stays with you days afterward, or makes you think or changes your politics. It entertained. It charmed; even when you’re sitting in the very front row.