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'Just a Friendly Guy' to take stage in East Madison

Play tells story of optimistic couple who take a turn

By Doug Harlow dharlow@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Local playwright Anna Freeman remembers a quote from the 2000 film "Love and Sex" when she describes her new play "Just A Friendly Guy."

"The longer you are with one person, the more annoying they will become," one of the characters quips in film.

Freeman said she hopes to demonstrate that notion in her play, which revolves around a couple who meet, come together with all the optimistic expectations of happiness, and then after a year, "hit the wall."

"I find too often that relationships, even good ones, begin to erode as time goes on, not because of the big traumas of life, but because of the little things -- the irks that begin to bother and eventually estrange lovers from one another," Freeman said.

Freeman said her characters are not youngsters with stars in their eyes, they are seasoned adults -- "bachelors" who have become accustomed to living alone and moving through life independent of attachments.

"Therefore all the adjustments and compromises that are required in a relationship, in whatever form it takes, are difficult for them," she said. "In the end, they, and perhaps the audience, will ask, 'Is this worth it?'"

Veteran local actors Cheryl Seamans and Richard Roberts star in the play, he as a man who works for the telephone company, she as a writer.

"Just A Friendly Guy" will be performed on stage at the East Madison Square Garden, on the Bagley Road in East Madison, on Friday and Saturday of this week and again Aug. 20 and 21 starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 with some of the proceeds going toward the maintenance and upkeep of the playhouse in East Madison, a local community art and meeting center.

"I am very fortunate to have such fine actors who understand and can convey the subtle changes their relationship undergoes," Freeman said. "Seamans and Roberts are truly a dream team."

Freeman has been involved in the theater for many years, starting her Maine career with Marti Stevens and the Cornville Players and appearing in many productions at Lakewood Theater as well as her long-standing association with the In Spite of Life Players.

She has taught acting and written and produced plays with students in School Administrative District 59. Her play "Generic Women" was produced in Waterville, Portland and Belfast.

For further information call 654-2664 or on the Web at annafreeman7@gmail.com.