Dramaturgy, Maine

The professionalism and dedication shown by STC members never ceases to amaze me, especially with this show. At production meetings, ideas are carefully thought out for costumes, set, and props. New tasks are then delegated to the production team heads for them to convey back to their specific teams (Set, Costumes, Props, and Dramaturgy). Work days have been essential for completing these tasks. Work days are the chance for the four production teams to group up individually and work together on the given tasks within the group. I am a part of the Dramaturg production team.

Being the lead dramaturg, there are a lot of different responsibilities involved: delegating tasks, conducting research, and bringing information back to production meetings. The literal definition of dramaturgy is “The theory and practice of dramatic composition.” but for our purposes, the point of the dramaturgs are to keep this show honest, and true. We are aiming to stay away from the clichés and stereotypes of small town folk, and we are presenting information to the cast members with hopes to spark interests, and inspire the actors. We want to inspire them to think more about their characters and how they interact with their surroundings, which is small town Almost, Maine, and with the other Almost, inhabitants. This is where our research comes in.

Ryan, Zander, and I have started preliminary investigations on given topics related to Almost, Maine. Some examples are, congenital analgesia, aurora borealis, clichés, and effects of alcoholism on emotions. We’ve also started researching information on the state of Maine. Looking through maps, and books on Aroostook County, we’ve pinpointed or at least come very close to locating Almost, Maine. Township 13, range 7 on a map is the exact location. The fact that Almost is a fictional town, may be what interests me so much about the show.

Within each vignette is the main story but, it also tells another one, hidden underneath as if in in layers. You peel back the shell of one story to find the next layer. This ties back to the dedication of STC members. It’s our job to make the audience see the subsequent layers of each scene, but this won’t come easy. The hard work put forth in rehearsals to live the lines given to them is what will really pay off. The more honestly the cast can portray their characters without the stereotypes and clicés will be what gives the show its magic.

With this show, the magic of the play is what drives it. Magical realism, “If you can explain it, it’s not magical realism.” By avoiding these stereotypes and clichés, hopefully, that will then make the show even more special. “Imagination is the highest form of research.” -Albert Einstein. It is our job to create the world of Almost, Maine… the small, petite, hidden away town of ordinary people, living quite extraordinary lives.

Jayna Wanamaker

Marvalyn / Lead Dramaturg

The First Read Through

The cast of “Almost Maine” did a read through, which means we literally just read through the play to familiarize ourselves with both the play and our co-stars.

Before we started, we talked about the play to see what everyone thought and what we were afraid that might or might not happen. The biggest concern for me was that all of these characters are in love somehow. They all need to express it, and they all do that in different ways. This makes the characters vulnerable to being sappy and possibly even unrealistic. Sometimes actors will over-act and make it seem unrealistic. We want to avoid that, because if it is not realistic the audience will not enjoy it.

We then read through all the scenes of the play.  Before the read through there was no preparation by the actors. The only thing we had done was to read through the play when we were first told we were cast. Even with no preparation, we found out that we, in the moment, really got into it. We just became our characters.

My outlook on this play before the read through was that it would be almost all comedy. There is a lot of comedy and humor in this play. For example, when I read one scene, the characters are falling over from becoming weak in the knees in love. I thought that was comedy but it actually turns out to be a touching and scary moment for both of them. After the read through I realized that almost every scene was touching and romantic, along with being funny. A lot of people were touched as we did the read through by the scenes, and by the actors who were so good at being the characters. We all kind of awed each other. We took our characters and put ourselves in those shoes. 

Afterwords we all talked about it and told what we saw in the play. We all realized that there is no doubt that these characters will not be phony and sappy. These characters touched all of our hearts. They are in tough and romantic situations, but they pull through and just find love in their hearts, and I hope they touch yours as well.

­Travis Cooper

Randy and Man

Welcome to Almost, Maine. Population: 23.

January 9th, 2014

Rehearsal has begun! Auditions, two days of waiting for callbacks, the official cast and crew list, a quick read through, one informative production meeting, a long winter break, and finally the show is standing up again.

The casting process was a unique one, one I'd never experienced before. Callbacks were completely dependent upon how you worked with another person in any given scene. A certain percentage of personal talent was disregarded and replaced by the need for chemistry. Going into a show made of vignettes about relationships, I don't know why this surprised me at first. Of course the casting was going to be mainly about chemistry. During callbacks, in a way, you knew who everyone would be cast with as we saw more and more cold readings - each taking a new turn judging on who was reading with whom. At the same time, some decisions were unexpected, and I'm intrigued to see how they play out as we go further into the rehearsal process.

This year, the position of Publicity Production Head was introduced, and thus you have me, reporting through the week with inside stories and backstage information to let you see into the process of Story Theater Company's teen shows.

We have Kivan Kirk, our talented director. Hannah Rublaitus, our dedicated producer. Mat Wymore and Megan Hensen, stepping in as our two technical directors.

And the teens: Zoey Lazere, in charge of set. Allyson Goodman, taking over properties. Elizabeth Coleman and Ali Sandler splitting the head position for costumes. Jayna Wanamaker, leading dramaturgy. Maria Werner-Anderson, the stage manager. And myself, Mabel McIntosh, handling publicity.

If you're unfamiliar with how the STC teen shows normally go, let me tell you: it's a really unique experience. The entire cast is divided into production teams, falling under the authority of one of the team leaders listed above. Through the entirety of the show, the team leaders imagine everything stage wise, and (on Saturdays - our work days) the cast helps them carry out their ideas and bring everything into existence in our workshop. Meanwhile, during week rehearsals, the cast focuses on the script and their roles and scenes.

By the end of February, after two months of working, not only will we as a cast be ready for five performances, but we'll be able to stand proudly on the stage and claim responsibility for every chair, cup, scarf, door, shoe, painting, backdrop, t-shirt, suitcase - literally everything seen on the stage.

So having said that, I think this particular show is going to be a challenge for all of us. From what I picked up on in our first production meeting, each team has its own foreseen roadblocks. None impossible (though Props needs to figure out a way to make it snow on stage. That should be interesting...), but not so easy as to be put off until the last few weeks of February.

And not only are there technical challenges for the production team leaders, but also for the actors. For a show about romance put on by teenagers (some of us young teenagers), there are definitely a lot of things in the script that many of us haven't experienced personally. There are certain emotional pulls and jerks that are hard to imagine. Lendall, for example, proposing to Gayle. Personally, I don't know what it feels like to accept a marriage proposal, and (I mean, I'm just assuming that) Elizabeth Cowley doesn't either. My own scene, Marci and Phil, coming to a point in their marriage where divorce is a very pliable possibility.

Emotional pulls and jerks. In every scene. Technical challenges. In every scene. I'm excited for every single one of them.

And I'm here to get you excited for them, too.

Mabel McIntosh