ROCKPORT – Students of the Watershed School, in Camden will present John Cariani's play "Almost, Maine” on April 7 and 8 in the Rockport Opera House. The production will feature 17 Watershed students. The play is eight vignettes about love, usually involving two to three students in each.

Director Beverly Scott, she explained that the playwright John Cariani grew up in Maine.

"He moved to New York to seek his fame and fortune as an actor," she said. "He noticed that so many plays were about people who were doing awful things to each other. He wanted to write a play that reflected growing up in Maine, so he wrote "Almost, Maine."

The play is a romantic comedy and takes place in Almost, Maine, but why “Almost, Maine?”

"To form a town you have get organized," said Scott. "They didn't get organized, so that's where the name almost comes from. “Almost, Maine” is in Aroostook County almost on the Canadian border."

“Almost, Maine” is not a real town by the way, but the people are real folks said Scott.

"They are all trying to figure out love," she said. "They fall in love and they fall out of love. They are confused about love and they are trying to figure out what it is. It's humorous and it's touching. It's also sweet, but not sugary."

Different types of love are explored in each scene, but there is a shift at the end of each Scott explained.

"There's a shift in the air that happens at the end of each vignette," she said. "We were hoping to have a little ‘bling’ sound because there's something that happens in everybody's heart. It doesn't give it away, but we know something good is about to happen."

Scott said the play is not a parody of Maine. It's funny, but it's not “Reny's the Musical,” she said. It just happens to happen in Maine. Scott said it's just people with pure hearts who are trying to figure out life.

Meiyue Liu is an exchange student from Xian, China. She said she feels very lucky to be at Watershed.

"It was last minute," she said. “I had been in Germany and it was late August and the agency said there is a school in Maine looking for an exchange student and they asked if I would be interested."

Liu is a senior. She said acting and being in a play is very new to her. Her English is already very good.

"I started learning English when I was two or three years old," she said. Being in America and being in a play I can hear my own accent. It's frustrating sometimes when I can't pronounce something the correct way and I get mad at myself. I tell myself it's okay, just be patient."

Liu said the Watershed school is amazing to her.

"When I was in China my average class size was 70 students and there are 25 classes in a grade, so that's thousands of kids," she said. "My class size is eight students at Watershed. I feel really close to my peers and teachers and we do a lot of projects."

Liu said she didn't have her heart set on a part when she auditioned and she was assigned a part. She said it is a great experience.

Watershed students involved in the production are: Isaiah Doble, Aly Anderson, Eli Moore, Meiyue Liu, Nigel Wilton, Mara Carpenter, Rachel Sizeler-Fletcher, Eli Moore, Morgan Macdougal, Christian Ray, Daniel Snider, Caleb Edwards, Hallie Arno Macdougal, Alex Facq, Emma Wilton and Caleb Edwards.

The student production takes place Saturday, April 7, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 8, at 2 p.m. in the Rockport Opera House. Adults are $10 and students are free.

Purchase tickets at the door, or online at http://www.watershed-school.org/content/watershed-school-presents-almost-maine