Theater Review: "Almost, Maine" by Newtown High School Drama

By Nancy Sasso Janis

Newtown High School Drama will present “Almost, Maine,” a quirky play written by John Cariani. Performances are scheduled for Nov. 17, 18 and 19 at 7:00 pm and a matinee on Nov. 20 at 2:00pm in the Newtown High School Auditorium.

This is a student directed production, with Leah Crebbin (Megan Jones in “Puffs”) and Maren Leyva (in her directing debut) sharing the directing duties. The two co-wrote the Director’s Note in the printed program in which they correctly describe the play that they chose to produce after many hours of consideration.

“Through a series of vignettes, we follow the stories of various dynamic characters with different ideas of love in the quaint little town of Almost. From laughing to crying and wanting to scream, “Almost, Maine” will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.” - Leah and Maren

The directors give credit to “this passionate cast” that will “bring you to tears through their interpretations of each character. Although we are the directors, the show is theirs and their creativity is what allowed it to soar.” The students give their all to their performances and the production is impressive.

There are four scenes in each of the two acts, bracketed by a prologue, interlogue and epilogue. Although the scenes are quite separate from each other, there are some points where the characters mention the names of other Almost residents. My favorite line is when one of the characters mentions his parents moving down south….to Vermont.

Bennett Samberg plays Pete in his first NHS production and Cate Dalton is Ginette in the little scenes that open and end the first act and finally closes the performance.

The ‘Her Hear’ scene features Jules Kessler (Oliver in “Puffs) as East and a grown up Ava Baroody (“Puffs) in the role of Glory. Baroody masters her rapid fire lines. She performed in shows with NewArts for nine years, including “A Christmas Carol” (as Fan,) and “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

The ‘Sad and Glad’ scene includes sophomore Theo Anderson (“Puffs”) as Jimmy, junior Sadie Gureasko-Moore (The Narrator in “Puffs”) as Sandrine and Grace Lynch as the waitress.

‘This Hurts’ features Emily Joyce as Steve and Krisitn Lageman (in her seventh NHS show) as Marvalyn. ‘Where It Went’ contains the characters of Phil and Marci, played by Samuel Giuggio and senior Amelia Rivera respectively. Act 1 runs about 45 minutes.

After the 15 minute intermission, Act 2 opens with ‘Seeing the Thing,’ with junior Julia Forlenzo (“Puffs”) as Rhonda and El Glassman as her husband Dave.

‘They Fell’ has Skylar Lewis (in her first production at NHS) and Brooke Kinsey (in her first fall play at NHS) convincingly covering the roles of Randy and Chad. ‘Story of Hope’ features Ashton Almeter (Cedric in “Puffs”) in the role of Dan and senior Kritana Kunzweiler as the Hope in the title. Kunzweiler was also part of NewArts productions.

‘Getting it Back’ is the final vignette and brings back Glassman to play Lendall with Maddie Talluto, who has appeared in Sabrina’s Encore Productions, in the role of Gayle. Glassman has great stage presence in both of the roles in their first show at Newtown High School.

Olivia Ayles served as producer of the production with NHS teacher Janice Gabriel as advisor. Leyva doubles as technical director and Carissa Soriano was the talented scenic artist for the scenic design of Leyva and Claire Nalajala. Leyva, Abby McCafferty and Jess Powers are in charge of the sound design/SFX that worked well at the final dress rehearsal. There is some gentle guitar music between scenes.

Kudos to lighting designers Ben Fogal and Katherine Allen for the beautiful Northern Lights augmented with pink touches for love. Expect some flashing of the house lights at the beginning of the two acts. The students in the large stage crew worked well together behind the scenes.

Thank you to Ms. Gabriel for the invitation to attend the final dress rehearsal on Wednesday.

Stay tuned for NHS’s Spring Musical, “Into the Woods” scheduled for March 17-20, 2023.

Nancy Sasso Janis, writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, posts well over 100 reviews each year. In 2016, her membership in the Connecticut Critics Circle began and her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted not only in the Naugatuck Patch but also on the Patch sites closest to the venue. She recently became a contributor to the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column and theatre reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the paper.

Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the NEW CCC Facebook page.