Almost, Maine   About The Playwright
Written By: John Cariani  
Directed By: William "Kip" Moore
 
Performance Dates:
Thursday, November 3th at 7:30pm
Friday, November 4th at 8:00pm
Saturday, November, 5th at 8:00pm
  Cariani grew up in Presque Isle, Maine, and graduated from Presque Isle High School. After getting his BA in history from Amherst College, he studied acting and directing at StageWest in Springfield, MA.

In late 1995 he moved to New York City to pursue an acting career, and spent his early years there working with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and acting in off- and off-off-Broadway plays, television commercials, and films.

His first break came in 1999, when he was cast in the off-Broadway play, "It’s My Party (And I’ll Die if I Want To)" starring F. Murray Abraham and Joyce Van Patten. In 2000 Cariani was cast in the independent film, Scotland, PA, playing opposite Christopher Walken. He later landed a small role in the independent hit, Kissing Jessica Stein, and then played an unlikely villain in Showtime, a 2001 Warner Brothers release in which he shared the screen with Robert DeNiro. In 2002 he joined the cast of Law & Order as CSU Tech Julian Beck, a role he played from 2002-2007. In 2004 he made his Broadway debut in the revival of Fiddler on the Roof, for which he received the 2004 Outer Critics Circle Award and a 2004 Tony Award Nomination for Best Featured Actor in a musical.

That same year, Cariani began his career as a playwright. His first play, Almost, Maine, debuted at Portland Stage Company and was named one of the ten best plays of the 2004/2005 regional theatre season by The Wall Street Journal. The play went on to be produced Off-Broadway in 2006, was featured in New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2006 and published by Dramatists Play Serivce. Since its New York debut, Almost, Maine has been produced by hundreds of theatres all over the United States and in places as far flung as Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia.
Ticket Price:
All Tickets $13.00
About the Show:  
On a cold, clear, moonless night in the middle of winter, all is not quite what it seems in the remote, mythical town of Almost, Maine. As the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, Almost’s residents find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter night’s dream.

"Utterly endearing…It’s hard not to warm up to ALMOST, MAINE. A crowd-pleaser." —Broadway.com.
"A charmer…Unexpected magic lingers in the air like someone’s breath on a cold winter’s night. John Cariani aims for the heart by way of the funny bone." —Star-Ledger.
 
The Cast:
Saralyn Carbaugh
Laura Estandia    
Chris Griesinger    
Misty Griesinger                               
David Jenkins    
Jeffery Smith                                        
Pam Steiniger                              
Lori True    
Mary Watkins    
Charley Shafor    
     
Audience Advisory:
None
Produced by Special Arrangements with
Dramatists Play Service