By The Keystone Newspaper Student director and cast discuss creative process
By Alice Frank
KU Actor’s Creating Theater (ACT) showcased its fall play “Almost, Maine,” in Schaeffer Little Theater over Homecoming weekend from Oct. 17-18.
The play is set in the fictitious town of Almost, Maine. It features nine couples, each with a scene of their own that showcases their experience of love and pain. The play is set on a single night under the Aurora Borealis.
“This stage play shows nine short plays of the people of Almost showing the near full human spectrum of love,” student-director and senior, Mason Snyder said. “From found love to lost love, and everything in between, this show aims to highlight the magic and pain that love can provide.”
Snyder noted his vision he and the Assistant Director, sophomore Christian Brutsche, saw for the show as they began planning production.
“One of the biggest things that we figured out from the start is wanting to do this show in a round, as opposed to just the standard aisle seating to really give people the chance to see it from all angles,” Snyder said.
Snyder also expressed the creative direction he gave the cast, advising them to tap into as much of themselves as possible and to put that into their portrayals of the citizens of Almost. He told the cast to “take those emotions and apply them to you personally, and then just carry them throughout the scene.”
ACT’s Treasurer and KU junior, Emily Novak, feels as though she truly put herself into her character, Hope.
In the play, Hope returns to Almost in an attempt to reclaim lost love, only to discover that the love she was looking for has moved on. Novak’s experience with Hope’s part is not unfamiliar to her as this is her second time playing this particular role.
“I played this role for the first time my senior year of highschool, so when I tapped into that at that point in my life I was a completely different person, and one of my biggest things going into this was taking that and making it the version of myself that I am now,” she said.
Photo Credit: Alice Frank
Hope’s journey to her hometown to win back a former lover, who she had run away from years prior, resulted in an ill-fated outcome that left Hope with the opportunity to start living for herself. Novak’s personal experiences with love, loss, and rediscovering herself had a major influence on how she portrayed her character this time around.
“I feel like now I am able to take it and make it personal to me,” Novak said, “I like to channel the emotions that I felt throughout my love experiences and take that and kind of put Hope’s little spin on it I guess.”
Similarly, junior Karina Hernandez connected with her character, Glory, by relating to her complex emotions.
Despite her bubbly demeanor, Glory has experienced a deep pain that Hernandez felt she could not entirely relate to—the tragic loss of her character’s husband. In admitting her disconnect from Glory in that regard, Hernandez recognizes the underlying aspect of Glory’s pain in her search for closure and the opportunity to say goodbye.
“I feel like when it came to the more solemn moments, I had to pull from aspects of my life where I could feel kind of that pain and sadness,” Hernandez said.
In receiving her role as Glory, Hernandez questioned whether or not she could play a part with so many lines, but, still, she played the role and uncovered more about herself as she connected deeper with Glory.
“I think I learned that I am very persistent, and that I am very devoted, and that I can be very focused, because I have a lot of lines and she rambles a lot,” Hernandez said. “That’s another thing about her character; is that the way that she talks is the way that I think.”
The complex emotions of each character in “Almost, Maine,” all have one thing in common according to Snyder, and that is the idea that they each deal with love “in some shape or form”.
“You can go into the show and there will always be at least one scene that speaks to you on a personal level and will resonate with you and you will carry that with you even outside of the show,” Snyder said.
Snyder’s creative direction combined with the casts’ ability to tap into personal experiences to depict their characters, as well as the noted sense of community that was fostered in the weeks prior to the show’s opening, are what facilitated the show from the start through the final performance.
“We made it feel not like a cast, but like a genuine community, just pulling together for this show, and it paid off immensely because I am insanely proud of them,” Snyder said.