Georgia Military College’s (GMC) Junior College Fine Arts Department hosted its final play of the season, Almost, Maine, on Mother’s Day weekend.
GMC Fine Arts works on a college-community model and has been a part of GMC for about 18 years. The program debuted with the production of Prince of the Heart at Allen’s Market and has continued to put on numerous shows throughout the year.
“Our program pairs students, alumni and community members together to create a seamless show,” said Amy Zipperer, Fine Arts events coordinator and one of the directors of Almost, Maine. “Auditions are open to the entire community, and we give calls to the community to help with such things as the set and other aspects of the show.”
Almost, Maine is a 2004 American romantic comedy written by John Cariani. It comprises nine short plays exploring love and loss in a remote area called Almost, Maine. Zipperer had directed the show before and believed it was the perfect production to give many young actors in the program a chance to work on their skills.
“The lines are hard to learn and present challenges,” said Zipperer. “Due to the show’s set-up, we broke rehearsals into nine groups and really honed each actor’s skill set. There was so much growth from the cast between rehearsals to the show’s debut.”
When pairing actors together, Zipperer stated that many of the couples were a pair of more experienced actors with newcomers. By pairing experience levels together, they could elevate each other’s performances and provide feedback. Zipperer also stated the script of Almost, Maine has no “mentions of ages or physical appearance” so the directors were able to pick the best actors for each role and each scene.
“Love can have many different appearances. Love is chaos,” said Zipperer, when speaking on Almost, Maine’s potential message. “One of my favorite quotes is that ‘The course of true love never runs true,’ and that’s something shown in each of these scenes. Part of choosing the cast was selecting how to portray the course the characters were on, their feelings, and more.”
Amy Zipperer, Jon Clark, and Nick Ryan directed the play together. Ryan was honored with other current graduates as it was his last performance as a student. In addition to being the director, he played Jimmy in scene two, “Sad and Glad.”
“Many of the members in our program are alumni or community members who participate in multiple shows or behind the scenes. We always honor our students who put so much effort into each show, but we are equally thankful for the outstanding support we receive from the community,” said Zipperer.
To support GMC Fine Arts, Zipperer suggested the best thing the community can do is attend their productions and participate in fundraisers.
Follow the GMC JC Fine Arts Facebook page to stay current on the program.