Almost, Maine Playwright Appears at First “Stage Whispers” of the Year
Brockport, NY – In a healthy dose of happenstance, Almost, Maine playwright John Cariani will appear as the initial guest at this year’s Stage Whispers: Conversations with Theatre Professionals series three weeks prior to the opening of that play at The College at Brockport’s Tower Fine Arts Center Mainstage. Cariani will speak about the mythical, mystical Northeast town where several of his plays take place, his transition from actor to playwright and the pre-production process for his play, Last Gas, which will be seen later this season at Geva Theatre Center. Stage Whispers takes place on Thursday, September 12, 2013, at 10 am, in the College’sTower Fine Arts Center Black Box Theatre, 180 Holley Street. The talk is free and open to the public.
Cariani, who was nominated for a Tony Award® for his performance in the most recent Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, has also appeared in many television series, including his recurring appearances as “Beck” on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and in several feature films, including Kissing Jessica Stein. His evolution from onstage to offstage artist stemmed from what he considered a dearth of decent audition material for men. So he took it upon himself to create his own. That audition piece begat a series of monologues that were presented at an NBC-sponsored event for budding playwrights. Eventually, he realized that some of the monologues (which had numbered more than 20 at the time) were thematically related, drew on his childhood in Presque Isle, ME, and were all a bit fantastical. In their review of Almost, Maine, The New York Times indicated that Cariani “is working from the notion that the remoter expanses of the country are the natural harbor of the adorably lovelorn, the touched and the irretrievably lost.”
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