Oak Park Festival Theatre And Open Door Theater Announce Co-Production Of I & YOU

One afternoon, Anthony arrives unexpectedly at classmate Caroline's door, bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, an urgent assignment from their English teacher. Homebound due to illness, Caroline hasn't been to school in months, but she is as quick and sardonic as Anthony is athletic, sensitive, and popular. As these two let down their guard and share their secrets, this seemingly mundane poetry project unlocks a much deeper mystery that has brought them together. I and You is an ode to youth, life, love, and the strange beauty of human connectedness.

This production is a co-production brought to you by Oak Park Festival Theatre and Open Door Theatre, both proud non-profits serving the Oak Park River Forest area.

April 26 - May 26, 2019. Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm: Saturdays & Sundays at 3pm, 90 minutes with no intermission. General admission $35 Seniors $28 Students $15. Tickets and More info at OakParkFestival.com.

Bryan Wakefield is deeply honored to be sharing this story with such an amazing cast and the incredible support of Oak Park Festival Theatre and Open Door Theater. A long-time fan of Lauren Gunderson, Bryan has directed the Chicago premieres of two of Gunderson's other works:The Revolutionists (Jeff Recommended) and Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight with the Organic Theater Company. More of Bryan's work can be seen May and June of 2019 as he directs The Memo by Vaclev Havel, with the Organic Theater Company. Other directing credits include You Can't Take it With You, Life is a Dream, Something I'll Tell you Tuesday, The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year, The Author's Voice, and The Blue Room. Bryan is an artistic associate with Oak Park Festival Theatre (actor in Macbeth, Fair Maid of the West, Twelfth Night, Cyrano de Bergerac, and others), a company member of the Organic Theater Company (actor in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Bartleby the Scrivener, Macbeth, Theophilus North, and others), adjunct professor at Elmhurst College and Central Arizona College, an actor/combatant with the Society of the American Fight Directors, and a trained exotic bird handler from the California-based Carvalho's Friends of a Feather. He holds an MFA in Acting from Northern Illinois University, a Certificate of Acting from the Moscow Art Theater School, and is currently working on an MBA at the University of Southern Indiana.

Matty Robinson (Anthony) As an actor he appeared in in BoHo's recent production of Cyrano as Raguneau, OPTF's productions of The African Company Presents Richard III as William Henry Brown, A Dickens Carol (2017) as Chapman, The Taming of the Shrew as Grumio, and worked on The Fair Maid of the West and To Kill A Mockingbird. Matty is also an Artistic Associate of OPFT. Matty is a proud Illinois State University alumni holding a Bachelor of Science degree in theatre. Want more Matty? Check him out Friday nights at Pimprov as Prince Mida$, doing improv with The Moonsharks, writing and performing sketches with The Martin Luther Kings of Comedy, and performing stand-up around the city. Follow his adventures on instagram: @mattydor11

Erica Bittner (Caroline) is an Artistic Associate at Oak Park Festival Theatre, where she has appeared in You Can't Take It With You, A Dickens Carol (2017 & 2018), Pygmalion, and Love's Labour's Lost. Other Chicago credits include:Bad Jews (Theatre Wit/North Shore/Royal George); The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe(First Folio - 2018 and 2012) A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane); Richard III: No Beast So Fierce (Oracle Theatre); Dead Man Walking(Piven Theatre); and productions with Music Theatre Works, Music Theatre Company, Redmoon, One Year Chekhov, GreatWorks, Chicago Dramatists, Victory Gardens, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Regional: King Charles III (Cardinal Stage). International: The Two Noble Kinsmen (RADA) and Momentary Opera (Redmoon). Television: The Chi (Showtime),Chicago Fire(NBC), American Greed(CNBC). Erica holds a BFA from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and a certificate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Oak Park Festival Theatre - Oak Park's Equity theatre and the Midwest's oldest professional theatre performing the classics outdoors - is currently celebrating its 44th year of theatrical excellence producing outstanding productions of the plays of William Shakespeare and other classical authors, as well as important contemporary plays by some of the world's greatest playwrights.

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