Press Release: Almost Maine

JOHN CARIANI (Playwright) Cariani, a native of Presque Isle, Maine, was active in musical theatre during high school. After attending Amherst College as a history major, he moved to New York City to pursue a career. Cariani made his debut in the Off-Broadway play It's My Party (And I'll Die If I Want To). Later, Cariani earned the part of Motel in the Fiddler on the Roof revival - his first Broadway role. For this performance, he was nominated at the 2004 Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.  As a playwright, Cariani has written several plays including Almost, Maine, first performed by the Portland Stage Company, and cul-de-sac. In addition to his theatre work, Cariani has appeared on the television shows “Law & Order” and “Ed,” as well as the films “Kissing Jessica Stein” and “Scotland, PA.”

Director DAVID ROSE has 23 productions to his credit since he became a company member in1990. He staged recent Colony productions of Master Harold…and the Boys, I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Written by A Young Lady From Rwanda, Billy Bishop Goes to War, Sherlock’s Last Case, The Drawer Boy, Fuddy Meers, The Nerd (with French Stewart), The Man Who Came to Dinner, and the World Premiere of Bea[u]tiful in the Extreme.  He also directed Our Country’s Good (six L.A. Ovation award nominations, Drama-Logue award), the L.A. Premiere of The Living, The Front Page (L.A. Weekly award – Revival Production of the Year), You Can’t Take it With You (Drama-Logue award), June Moon, and the West Coast Premiere of Peccadillo. As an actor, he has appeared at the Colony in Morning’s at Seven, The Clearing, Incident at Vichy, Einstein and the Polar Bear, Pastoral, and Bedroom Farce (Drama-Logue award.) Elsewhere in Los Angeles, he has directed productions of Geniuses (Drama-Logue award), Justin Tanner’s Big Bear, and the smash hit Road to Nirvana (Drama-Logue award) – all at Third Stage, as well as The Dining Room at Theatre 40, Inspecting Carol at the Ivy Substation (Drama-Logue award) and Chased From Paradise and The Blues are Running at the Lost Studio. He is the former Artistic Director of The New York Comedy Repertory Ensemble and a founding member of Washington D.C’s acclaimed Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.       

ABOUT THE CAST AND DESIGN TEAM

ALMOST MAINE features Caroline Kinsolving (Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at New York's Harold Clurman Theatre and Viola in Twelfth Night), Louis Lotorto (The Colony Productions of I Have Before Me A Remarkable Document Given to me by a Young Lady From Rwanda and The Glass Menagerie),  Donald Sage Mackay  (The Colony Productions of Fuddy Meers and Toys in the Attic) and Dee Ann Newkirk (Broadway, A Month in the Country, Circle in the Square's production of The Crucible).

ALMOST MAINE has assembled an award-winning design team.  The set design is by David Potts (Sherlock’s Last Case, Grand Hotel).  The costume design is by A. Jeffrey Schoenberg (The Ladies of the Camellias, Trying).  The lighting design is by Jeremy Pivnick (The Thousandth Night, The Marvelous Wonderettes).  The sound design is by John Zalewski (The Thousandth Night, The Cherry Orchard).