Almost, Maine

Romantic love is one of the major subjects of this play. Choosing two or three scenes, compare and contrast how each represents the theme of romantic love. How do the characters react to their feelings and the feelings of others? In what ways does love manifest differently between the characters within or between the scenes? What do these scenes suggest about the nature of romantic love?

The play opens with a Prologue, and then there is both an Interlogue and an Epilogue containing the same two characters, Ginette and Pete, the only characters to reappear onstage multiple times. Why do you think Cariani chooses to continue this particular narrative through the play? How does this series of shortened scenes communicate with the scenes that surround them?

Throughout Almost, Maine, the author gives a number of options, most notably in the staging of the Prologue, Interlogue, and Epilogue, where they are explicit, but also throughout the other scenes, using words like “perhaps” and “maybe” in the stage directions. What effect do you see this having on the meaning of the play? Compare and contrast the effects of different options.