FORT KENT, Maine — Maine native John Cariani’s play “ Almost, Maine” is among the most performed high school plays in the country and has been produced by more than 2,000 schools, colleges and professional theaters across the country. But it won’t be performed at Maiden High School in North Carolina.
Last week, officials at Maiden High School canceled a production of the play, saying its sexual overtones were “too racy,” according to an online story in the Hickory Record.
That article goes on to say students have said the cancellation is a direct result of a scene in the play in which two men declare their love for each other.
Called “the happiest sad play or saddest happy play you will see,” “Almost, Maine” is a romantic comedy made up of nine vignettes that explore love and loss in the fictional, small northern town of Almost, Maine.
The scene the Maiden students say got their play canceled after a week of rehearsals is the six-minute piece titled “They Fell.” In it, two male friends discuss recent bad dates with women, then the men declare their love for each other by falling down on the stage.
“We received approval from our principal and the school’s superintendent to do this play. We also had to have every student’s parent sign a permission slip before they could audition. We did this, auditioned everyone and started rehearsals,” Maiden High School student director Connie Baker wrote in an email to the Hickory Record. “Word had spread throughout the community that there were homosexual characters in our play. There were complaints from different churches and multiple parents of students.”
In a written statement, Maiden High School Principal Rob Bliss said potential student plays were still under review by the school’s administration.
“In regard to the request for students to perform the play ‘Almost, Maine,’ careful review and consideration was given to the contents of this play,” Bliss said. “The play contained sexually explicit overtones and multiple sexual innuendoes that are not aligned with our mission and educational objectives.”
In a written statement to Playbill.com posted on Cariani’s Facebook page, he said he recognizes gender and sexuality issus can be difficult and complicated for public schools to openly discuss, but said Maiden’s actions are a diservice to its students.
“If Maiden High School administrators take issue with ‘They Fell’ because it’s about two young men who are simply stating their feelings for one another, they are calling into question the validity of same-sex love by making it seem wrong and different and other,” Cariani said. “They are allowing a dangerous cycle of fear and self-hatred among LGBTQ youth to continue, and, consequently, they are tacitly promoting homophobia. This is simply not necessary. Nor is it helpful.”
According to Cariani’s website, “Almost, Maine” has been performed by schools across the country to critical acclaim after it premiered in 2004 at the Portland Stage Company, where it broke box-office records.
Most recently, it was performed in Maine in June by New Gloucester’s Merriconeag Waldorf High School’s senior class. David Barham, who directed the play and is a humanities professor at the school, on Monday morning called Maiden’s cancellation “outrageous.”
“Almost, Maine,” Barham said, is a perfect play for students “because all the scenes show various aspects of the complexity of human relationships and the beauty of human relationships.”
Rather than shy away from the play’s content, Barham said he felt Cariani’s work was meaningful for the student actors and their audience.
“‘They Fell,’ is the most touching, brilliantly funny and totally believable scene in the play,” Barham said. “To refuse to touch the play is really missing the point [that] this is a play about the human heart.”
