Love is in the air for this year’s upcoming KHS Drama production.

“It’s a series of stories about love,” said director and high school acting teacher Pete Moore. “Love beginning, love falling apart, unexpected love, and love that got away.”

The show, “Almost, Maine,” written by John Cariani, tells a tale of 19 people who all struggle with love. In each scene the audience gets to see nine separate situations all within the same town. The scenes range from sad to happy to hilarious. Some even reference each other as lives and stories overlap.

The play has become a huge hit among high-school theater groups nationwide. In 2010 The Washington Post reported that “Almost, Maine” had bypassed Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as the most-produced play in American high schools.

In 2006, The New York Times showered praise on the play, describing the script as “a whimsical approach to the joys and perils of romance. Magical happenings bloom beneath the snowdrifts. ALMOST, MAINE explores the thunderclap of love and the scorched earth that sometimes follows.”

The play’s website gives the following synopsis:

One cold, clear Friday night in the middle of winter, while the northern lights hover in the sky above, Almost’s residents find themselves falling in and out of love in the strangest ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. Love is lost, found, and confounded. And life for the people of Almost, Maine will never be the same.

For the Kings production, Moore (pictured, right at recent auditions) plans an up-close-and-personal experience for the audience. He will keep available seating to a minimum, and place the audience on the stage instead of in the standard auditorium rows.

The configuration is a challenge for the play’s production team, but the audience will see every angle of every scene and every character. Patrons will feel as if they are in the scene, a bystander in Maine.

“If you’re in the audience, your knees will be the walls and your breath will be the breeze,” Moore said.

Maddi Kilgore, an actress playing “Gale,” in the show, says though the setup will be unique for the audience, it will also be unique for the cast.

“I think it will be more intimidating with the audience members being right in my face,” Kilgore said, “It will definitely put more pressure on me as an actress knowing that they can see my every facial expression and mistake in depth.”

Almost, Maine show dates are 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, and Friday, Nov. 21; then twice on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets will be available soon.

top photo credit: wgpab.org