SPRING VALLEY – Things are busy down at the Spring Valley Stagehands Theater. A set is constructed and being painted and an 18-member cast is preparing for the 2023 Stagehands theatre season opener of “Almost, Maine,” a play by actor John Cariani.

The show is being directed by Lori Peterson, who notes, “This show is a little different from standard plays in that it is composed of nine short vignettes.”

Each vignette explores loves and loss in a remote, mythical place called Almost, Maine: a woman travels to Maine to say goodbye to her dead husband, and meets the repairman of her heart; a long-married couple seeks to escape the hectic routines of their life by ice skating on a winter night and they discover that the joy is gone from their relationship; a woman returns to town to accept a marriage proposal she left unanswered years before and discovers that the man is now married to somebody else; someone gets whacked by an ironing board and realizes that feeling, and possibly love, have entered his life. Love, the play is telling us, is something that happens, a dynamic process, like the movement of the heavens themselves. And as with the heavens, sometimes it’s dawn, and sometimes it’s dusk.

“I think the audience will see themselves multiple times in this play, and that is why I chose it,” said Peterson.

The amazing cast with members from Baldwin, Ellsworth, Martell, River Falls, and Spring Valley is having fun at rehearsals and discovering that the stories they are telling are often bits of their own stories, too. It is funny, sad, and heartwarming – the perfect play for the long, dark days of winter!

Plan now to join the Spring Valley Stagehands for this charming romantic comedy. The show will run at 7 p.m. on Feb.10, 11, 16, 17 and 18; and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 12 and 19. Tickets are available now at www.svstagehands. org Submitted by Lori Peterson, Spring Valley Stagehands

The case of Spring Valley Stagehands’ “Almost Maine” includes (floor, from left): Ethan Hayes, Lee Schauer, Olivia Dumond’ (middle) Mason Johnson, Lindsey Bundgaard, Ruth Lukes, Gary Lukes, Derek Huebel, Abigail Wines; (standing) Merrick Johnson, Danielle Nyhus, Tara Huebel, Greg Schmitt, MaKenna Johnson, Avery Huebel, Trista Falde. Photo courtesy of Lori Peterson