By Gillian McGoldrick
Editor in Chief
Entertainment Editor
Neshaminy’s Roadies have put on yet another flawless play. The show, titled “Almost, Maine,” is composed of nine different scenes that end in either happy endings or a couple’s worst nightmare. Each scene welcomes the audience into the charm or even pain of the quickly-formed characters.
The show was directed by drama teacher Gina Chiolan and assistant directed by English teacher Kim Aubrey. But adults did not head the entire show: the Roadies took much initiative within the show to make it as awesome as could be.
“I’m really proud of all of their hard work,” Chiolan said. “They have been working on this show since the summer… and there wasn’t even one moment [of the performance] that I wasn’t completely ecstatic about [sic].”
The show begins in the Prologue with Ginette (Kristin Pomponio) and Pete (Johnny Gallagher) looking at the sky. Ginette spills her love for Pete and he tells her that although her head is on his shoulder, she is not close to him at all. As she walks away she begins to get “closer to him,” bringing many laughs from the audience, until she just leaves.
“The rest of the show from this point is for sure an emotional roller coaster,” junior Nina Caruso said. This statement is most positively true as the Roadies take the audience from “Aw!” to “AWWWW!” within seconds. It is very easy to fall in love with the very well-played characters as they are all so different from each other. The cast embodies modern day issues with their own witty twist that come along with love in the unorganized town of Almost, Maine.
Each scene ends with a very definite ending. There is no guessing what happens to the couple, either they are in love, fallen out of love, getting married, or even getting divorced – the cast makes it very clear where the couples stand at the end of the scene. Junior Kelly Sauer reinforces this statement and said, “I was literally sobbing then crying from laughing in the next skit.”
The skit, “They Fell,” had a very unexpected conclusion that had the
audience giggling from the silliness of the two friends and smiling with glee but from the adorable and unforeseen ending. The two friends, Chad (Sean Devonshire) and Randy (Colin O’Neill), are on their usual outing and speak of their lady hardships.
After a bunch of bad shots into the trash can with old beer cans (including a Kobe Shot from Devonshire), Chad confesses his love to Randy and continuously “falling” in love with him. Literally.
He couldn’t stand up. This leads Randy to storm away, but eventually opens up to the fact that he may be falling in love with Chad, too. They end the scene as they flop around the stage attempting to stand up, but are too caught up falling in love.
Sniffles were heard across the Black Box Theater at the end of the scene “Story of Hope” when Hope (Emily Tolnay) flies across the country and takes a taxi from Bangor and comes to tell her long-ago-lover, Dan (Robert Clark), that she says yes to his proposal from years ago. Before she says her answer, she hears Dan’s wife in the house calling for him to return inside, leaving Hope to her broken heart alone.
Many of the Roadies that were not in the cast put their efforts within the production team, including Sean Conway, Samantha Fario, Angela Sanson, and Hunter Kelly.
The brilliantly written script along with the Roadies’ talents to take the audience on a tear-jerking (both of humor and of heartbreak) journey brings “Almost, Maine” to be one of the most well-performed plays the drama department has seen yet.
