Recently, I received in the mail my fall newsletter from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. I saw with delight that the museum will welcome, this winter, Van Gogh’s well loved painting—Bedroom—circa 1889, on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago. My reaction was immediately one of nostalgia, having seen this charming work more than once in its Chicago home as well as through numerous reprints over the years, and I was hit with the desire to book a flight so I could view this painting at its first west coast installation.

 

“Why,” someone asked me, “why would you want to see this painting again?” with the notion that I already know that space in art; I have done that. Beyond the fact that art has endless suggestibility, all I can think of is that I truly would love to see those shades of yellow yet another time, to stare at those familiar blue walls and imagine climbing into what seems to be the perfect, if narrow, twin bed and enjoy a sense of place from another world, another era, one I don’t know but miss nonetheless.

 

I think the same thing about the Conservatory of Theater’s production this month, “Almost, Maine,” which opens November 4, 2016 on the main stage of Froelicher Theatre. Written by John Cariani, the work is comprised of nine self-contained vignettes exploring relationships, love and loss, in a mythical town that holds a place in the hearts of us all — in memory, or in want. Like Van Gogh’s Bedroom, it is a beautifully imagined work, rich in nuance and truth, a play you will want to see again and again as it takes on new meaning and dimension with each cast that produces it.

 

That got me to thinking, and I asked director/ designer Stephen Scherer — “Why ‘Almost, Maine?’ Why now?” He answered in his usual candid style that he had fallen in love with the script for both its honesty and uniqueness.

 

He says it is a play in which the “unimaginable happens but it isn’t unimaginable to them.” He continues to explain that there is the idea that life is perfect until the other shoe drops and catches you off guard. He describes this work as “a gentle ride, easily accessible to both youth and experience,” and, he maintains that one can see this play again and again because different interpretations are brought to the same words — “it will touch you differently every time you hear the words — even night to night.”

 

Another person who agrees with Scherer’s take on the play is Anshuman Bhatia, CA Class of 2006, who is re-visiting CA to design the lighting for this production as well as to teach theater tech students. Now a working professional in high demand, Bhatia welcomes the opportunity to return to CA, where he says he was exposed to a “perfect blend of artistic and technical elements” as well as “fantastic teachers.” Scherer commented that Bhatia is coming back essentially to the same theater with the same instruments, but with an enhanced breadth of knowledge and maturity, and, he is working with new people in the role of mentor as well as an artist. We are delighted to have him here as part of CA’s past, our students’ present, and the greater enrichment for the future, which is fostered by such carved-out periods of time and experience.

 

Watching “Almost, Maine” in rehearsal did magically transport me to the New England of my youth. So gather up your need for a little nostalgia and join our community for the season’s opening production on November 4 and 5 at 7:00 p.m. and a Sunday matinee at 2:00 p.m. Come knowing that, even if you have seen this play before, you will walk away with an experience bearing a vitality of its own. In the words of the play’s director, “Theater is a living morphing thing.”