About the Play:

Almost, Maine is a full-length romantic comedy by John Cariani. A clever, quirky romantic comic anthology made up of a series of loosely-connected two-character vignettes about real people who are really, truly, honestly dealing with the toughest thing there is to deal with in life: love. Heartbreaking and hilarious, totally awkward but totally truthful, Almost, Maine is a real crowd-pleaser that will leave your audience spent from laughter and thoroughly warmed from the inside out.

Welcome to Almost, Maine, a small, mythical town in far northern Maine that's so far north, it's almost in Canada. Well, almost. One cold, clear, moonless Friday night in the middle of winter, all is not quite what it seems. As the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, nine different couples (or near couples or former couples) find themselves falling in and out of love in the strangest ways and at an alarming rate. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. Love is lost, found, and confounded. And life for them will never be the same … but the bruises heal and hearts mend – almost – in what has been described as a "charming midwinter night's dream." Witty, romantic and clever: Almost, Maine is about love, loss, and the lengths people go to protect relationships, new and old, or the difficult decision to let them go.

Almost, Maine premiered in 2004 at Portland Stage Company (Portland, Maine) where it broke box office records and garnered critical acclaim. It opened off-Broadway in early 2006 at the Daryl Roth Theatre; was revived off-Broadway in 2014 by the Transport Group; and is now massively popular with community theatres, regional repertory houses, and international performance groups. It has also become one of the most regularly produced plays in high schools because it can accommodate a large cast, but doesn't require that cast to all appear onstage together at any point. This allows for maximum participation while making rehearsals significantly less taxing than your average show.

Cast: a minimum of 2 female and 2 male (doubling) portray 19 roles, but you can cast as many as 9 women and 10 men. In the original published version of Almost, Maine, They Fell was a scene for 2 men. Transport Group's 2014 revival production was the first to present the male and female versions of They Fell in rotating repertory. The only version of Almost, Maine that may be used in production is this 3rd Revised Edition (issued in 2018 with a yellow cover). No other version of any or all of the plays that comprise Almost, Maine may be performed, per the author's request. The female version of They Fell immediately follows the male version in this revised edition. You are free to present either version, or both versions in rotating repertory.

What people say:

"A higher-concept and more clever version of Hollywood hits like 'Love Actually' and 'Valentine's Day,' this rom-com leans on shrewd writing rather than star power in its nine interlocking love stories. [It] alternates beautiful, evocative prose with stutteringly awkward exchanges and often very funny sight gags." — New York Times

"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

"Utterly endearing … It's hard not to warm up to Almost, Maine. A crowd-pleaser." — Broadway.com

"Sweet, poignant and witty." — New York Daily News

"A snowy charmer … These nine tales of love in the time of frostbite have a winning glow that proves surprisingly contagious." — New York Sun

About the Playwright:

John Cariani is an award-winning American actor and an accomplished playwright. As an actor, he has appeared on and off Broadway, and in several films and television shows. He is best known to television viewers as the unwavering forensic expert Julian Beck in Law & Order. On stage, he earned a Tony Award nomination for his role as Motel the Tailor in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. As a playwright, he is best known for his first play, Almost, Maine, which the New York Times called "one of the biggest hits in global theater."