It’s a wintry Friday night in Almost, a little town in northern Maine. The cold, clear air beautifully showcases the stars and northern lights overhead as town residents search for love and happiness.

Director and associate theater professor Teresa Durbin-Ames describes the evening as lovely and light, filled with laughs and warmed hearts from the delightful stories of fun characters.

Almost, Maine is composed of nine vignettes, each filled with a sense of wonder and magical realism. Characters experience relationship firsts – the first kiss, hug, love, or “I love you,” – and find themselves falling in and out of love in charming and unexpected ways.

“It has been so great to work on it this entire semester because rehearsals are just a lot of fun,” Durbin-Ames said.

The script for Almost, Maine contains nine vignettes, so cast members play multiple roles in the production. Durbin-Ames said the script was actually written so just two men and two women could play all the roles, but she cast five women and four men so no one person was overwhelmed.

Almost, Maine is the third play in a series with a pursuit of happiness theme. In the fall, Autumn Garden took a look inside the lives of an introspective middle-aged couple that had been pursuing their relationship for 25 years. In February, the young prince Pippin was searching for the secret to true happiness and the meaning of life. The characters in Almost, Maine are all on that same quest to find happiness within their relationships.

“There are a couple stories about how to keep pursuing love when it is a challenging time,” Durbin-Ames said. “There are moments in a relationship where you might say, ‘this will not lead me to happiness’, and that can be an answer to that pursuit: maybe it is time to change course.”

This play is also about moments. There are “just about to do something” moments, moments that feel important, and the in-between moments where a character has just done something and now wonders what is next. Those moments can be exciting but also intimidating.

“I think I’d like the audience to take away from Almost, Maine that you need to be impulsive and just go for it in those moments,” Durbin-Ames said.

All of the shows this year have also had guest designers for the sets, costumes, and lights, and Durbin-Ames explained that this has been a great process for the students. They have had the opportunity to connect with people that work in New York professionally and have done what the students are doing now.

Michael Beyer, guest lighting designer and Ashland University 2001 alumni, said he found his true calling during the end of his sophomore year while doing a work-study job. He spent a lot of hours in the scene shop building sets and hanging lights while he participated in the theater’s productions.

“Everything about this play is making me reminisce,” he explained. “I’m in the same spot where I first learned about lighting design, I’ve acted right here on this stage, I’ve directed this play in the past…and the individual stories of love are all touching. It’s a very well constructed play, so simple yet so beautiful.”

Charlene Gross, Ashland University 1997 alumni, was welcomed back as the guest costume designer. She started off at AU as a fashion merchandising major with a minor in studio art and business, but after taking a costume design class with Susan Brown, who has since retired, she found she liked designing costumes.

Being a fashion merchandising major and studio art minor, she knew how to do pattern making and draping and how to draw, and her English literature classes taught her how to read a script, so Dr. Brown reminisced that she was “pretty good at that.”

“[Brown] said I could design a show with her and I did, and I really liked it, so I did another one and designed some other clothes, and I officially became a costume designer,” Gross said.

After graduation, she moved on to NYU for a Masters of Fine Arts degree. It was there that she had the opportunity to study under Carrie Robbins, a costume designer for Broadway shows such as Grease and Yentl.

Robbins’ associate, Emilio Sosa, asked Gross to be the associate designer for what was to be a small show at a New York public theater. Luckily for Sosa and Gross, the show became unexpectedly popular.

“Topdog Underdog turned into a very big show,” Gross said. “It won a Pulitzer and went on national tour to London for a while. Now it’s in the African-American museum and the Smithsonian.”

Gross has been successful in her career, and is in her thirteenth year of teaching at the College of Wooster. She also spends her summers as the resident costume design and production manager at the Ohio Light Opera when it comes to Wooster.

Coming up on the end of the school year, seniors have to decide what their next step is going forward in their life, careers, and relationships. Taking advice from the play: there will be moments that feel exciting, intimidating, and even scary, so just go for it.

“I think people get too caught up in the anxiety and worrying and forget to just do something,” Gross said. “If you’re going to worry about it, you’re going to miss the doing part. Put your head down. Go do something. For the love of God, get a job in something you’re actually interested in! And if there’s not a job for it, make one or go ask. The worst thing anyone is gonna say is no.”