This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, be transported to snowy Northern Maine and witness John Cariani’s masterpiece come to life by WHB actors.

With short, one-of-a-kind love stories, each actor has the opportunity to claim the spotlight and portray heartbreak, falling in love, relationship milestones, and many firsts.

While opening night may be just a few, short days away, there is still much to be done. Crew must be prepared to fly in large set pieces and stage managers must have all their cues in order. Actors must learn how to move fluently in bulky, winter wear and learn to make sparks fly.

Both actors and crew members embrace their challenges in order to captivate the audience. For most actors, it was learning how be their opposite selves, yet making their characters seem real.

Kristen Brockmiller, a senior theatre department actor, claims her greatest challenge was “overcoming the fear of my shy, quiet self and becoming this big…character,” and junior, Isabella Galway says, “conveying the roll of a hurt person cause that’s not really who I am.”

WHB senior, Jackson Parli, comments on how the complexity of his role was his biggest obstacle to overcome because he wanted to portray the character’s “masculinity and sensitivity.”

Senior Kylie Cast, however, says her greatest challenge was not about the inner personality of her character at all, but rather her character’s movement. Incorporating “the physical actions of taking my shoes on and off with the dialogue” took time to master.

One cannot dismiss the backstage crew and their tireless efforts to put the icing on the cake for the upcoming production. Assistant stage manager (ASM), Hana Lockwood, had to take control of her right stage crew and claim authority. “Getting people to listen to me” is what Lockwood claims to be the most frustrating part of her job on headset.

Director Rosemary Cline admits her biggest challenge for getting this “fantastic” show up and running has been “thinking about audience attendance. I want EVERYONE in our community to see this amazing play. And I just hope they will attend even if they don’t recognize the title.”

Despite the never ending hours of Hell Week rehearsals and the struggles of running the show as a whole, both cast and crew agree the audience will be “surprised” because of Almost, Maine’s “unique” yet “comical” quality.