The Huntington High School auditorium will once again spring to life this fall. The drama club has announced it will stage a production of “Almost, Maine” by John Cariani.
Auditions will be held in early September. Students should look for announcements over the public address system, on video monitors around the building and on the district website and Facebook page. There will also be opportunities for those interested in joining the stage crew, which will handle lights, sound, set construction and related aspects of the show.
Rehearsals will commence in early October. The curtain will go up Friday night, November 4 and Saturday afternoon and night on November 5.
“Welcome to ‘Almost, Maine,’ a place that’s so far north, it’s almost not in the United States,” said Michael Schwendemann, a Huntington High School English teacher who serves as the drama club’s faculty advisor. “It’s almost in Canada. And it’s not quite a town, because its residents never got around to getting organized. So it almost doesn’t exist. One cold, clear, winter night, as the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, the residents of Almost, Maine, find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and hilarious ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter night’s dream.”
Upon its arrival on stage the play has been hailed as “sweet, poignant, and witty,” by the New York Daily News. “Nearly perfect, ‘Almost, Maine’s’ charm is real. [It] packs wit, earns its laughs and, like love, surprises you.”
The New York Post said the “mega-hit ‘Almost, Maine’ lands somewhere between Norman Rockwell and Our Town. Unabashedly unhip. There is no pretense of an edge here—the show offers a sweetness and decency that’s become rare at the theater. At this point, it’s a welcome breath of fresh air.”
“The club can’t wait to share this love letter with the high school community and the community at large,” Mr. Schwendemann said. “In a time where there seems to be so much divisiveness it’s time to let love reign. So join us on Friday and Saturday, November 4-5 for a series of amiably absurdist vignettes about love, with a touch of good-natured magical realism…witty, romantic and unsentimental.”
Students can reach out to Mr. Schwendemann and explore opportunities by sending him an email at mschwendemann@hufsd.edu.
Michael Schwendemann
English teacher Michael Schwendemann is the drama club's faculty advisor.
A graduate of John Adams High School in Ozone Park, Queens, Mr. Schwendemann, or “Schwendy” as most students know him, earned a BA at CUNY-Queens College in communication arts and sciences and drama, theatre and dance. He obtained a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama.
Mr. Schwendemann worked as an adjunct faculty member at Long Island University-C.W. Post College in the department of theatre, dance and film from 1996 to 2001. He was in Huntington UFSD during parts of 2001-2003 performing outreach for the National Shakespeare Company, but he never envisioned himself as a Huntington teacher.
“It was luck that landed me at Huntington High School,” Mr. Schwendemann said. “I was actually offered a job at Bay Shore High School, where I was student teaching, but the teacher I was to replace changed his mind about leaving. Nina Wolfe, the chair of the English department felt terrible and secured for me an interview at Huntington. The rest, as they say, is history!”
Mr. Schwendemann began working full-time at Huntington High School in January 2003 and quickly became a student favorite. He has taught freshmen English along with the elective classes Holocaust in Literature, Bible as Literature, Multicultural Literature, Public Speaking and Theatre Arts.
“I can’t imagine teaching any place else,” Mr. Schwendemann said. “From day one I was accepted into the high school community. I love my colleagues and most of all the kids. Some days they make it hard to love them, but that passes quickly. The support I have received from all parts of the administration is unparalleled.”
Mr. Schwendemann has graced the stages of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where he worked with Michael Emerson and Norbert Leo Butz, the Roundabout Theatre Company, The Folger Shakespeare Library Theatre with Allison Fraser, The Fringe Festival, Genesis Repertory Theatre and The New York City Opera. He is currently a member of the Airmid Theatre Company with whom he recently performed two shows of Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” starring Margaret Colin at the newly renovated Suffolk Theatre in Riverhead.
As the faculty advisor to Huntington’s Class of 2006 and Class of 2010, Mr. Schwendemann maintains fond memories of those particular groups of graduates.
The drama club continues to energize the veteran educator. “The club has given me more happy memories than I can count,” Mr. Schwendemann said.