Upon sitting down at Peninsula Community Theatre, we were instantly transported to the titular town of Almost, Maine. The set included a “WELCOME TO…” sign and an incredibly cute log cabin, complete with a snowy roof (shout out to Director/Set Designer Linda Marley Smith and Set Decorators/Painters Ellen Eames and Pam Revill).

As at least subtly indicated by the play’s name, this show is a series of loosely related vignettes, each of which is centered around a play on words. The cast of eight portrays around 20 different people throughout the town over the course of the play. As Director Linda Marley Smith states in her Director’s Note, you can easily see why this play is popular with high schools and colleges. There are no more than 3 characters in each scene, so it can be done with a small cast (or if not double cast at all, a large cast) and most of the acting is done one-on-one with another character in dialogue. These actors take this seemingly simple play and elevate it beyond the punny dialogue of each vignette.

The first full scene, “Her Heart,” between East (played by Andrew Smith) and Glory (as portrayed by Katherine Archer) set the tone for the show. East explains the purgatorial nature of a town that has not quite rallied itself to township status, and Glory reveals that she is carrying around her broken heart externally in a paper bag. These actors did a good job of leaning into the absurdity created by taking literal meaning out of phrases while still making the human connectedness in the scene feel sincere. This is the case in each vignette as the play progresses. My favorite was, “Getting it Back” between Gayle (played by Eden Poteat) and Lendall (acted by Ben Titter). Gayle shows up with trash bags full of the love Lendall has given her over the years and demands the love she’s given him back. The serious conversation paired with the comedy of the bags and bags of love made this scene stick with me long after leaving PCT.

The start of the second act allows Andrew Smith (this time as Chad) and Gunther Perkins (as Randy) to show their ability to get a laugh both with their delivery and physicality. This light and fun scene shifts to the most serious of the play: a scene between Marci (played by Louise Casini Hollis) and Phil (acted by Clifford Hoffman). This long-married couple searches for a missing shoe while discussing what is missing from their marriage. The humor of Marci stumbling around on one skate combined with the seriousness of interrogating the true state of her marriage is perfectly balanced to create a scene that is relatable for the audience.  This scene shifts to another in which Emma Scheidegger (as “Woman”) immediately connects with the audience when she expresses the melancholy of choosing the wrong path. The actors in each vignette do a great job of showing the characters live their lives in the liminal space of “almost” there.

The overall experience of “Almost, Maine” was a fun night at Peninsula Community Theatre: nothing almost about that.