On the night before a class assignment is due, Caroline and Anthony plumb the mysteries of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass - unaware that a much deeper mystery has brought them together. The Los Angeles premiere of I and You by Lauren Gunderson, winner of the 2014 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, opens on April 11 at the Fountain Theatre, directed by Robin Larsen.
Only in high school would two completely unconnected people - feisty, chronically ill Caroline and levelheaded basketball star Anthony - be paired to collaborate on a project to deconstruct a poem about the interconnectivity of everything. Jennifer Finch (7 Redneck Cheerleaders and Hellcab with Elephant Theatre Company) and
Matthew Hancock (Oshoosi in The Brothers Size at the Fountain) star as two smart and funny teens who share an unknown and profound bond.
"Whitman says that we are all one because we are all equal, even though it might not look like it at times. There is a universal oneness," said Gunderson in an interview.
"These two precocious teenagers and
Walt Whitman's epic poem of humanity have something to teach us all," says Larsen. "That we are supremely connected, to each other, to the earth, to the stars, and that recognizing this connection, becoming conscious of it, is perhaps the point of our existence."
I and You was commissioned by
South Coast Repertory (which also commissioned Gunderson's Emilie: La Marquise Du Chaltelet Defends Her Life Tonight in 2009 and Silent Sky in 2011). The play received readings at SCR's Pacific Playwrights Festival in April 2012 and as part of Magic Theatre's new play development Magic @ the Costume Shop program. It premiered at the Marin Theatre Company in the fall of 2013, the first production in a series of "rolling world premieres" made possible by the National New Play Network's Continued Life of New Plays Fund; subsequent NNPN productions took place at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, Maryland and the
Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana. I and You went on to win the 2014 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award and was a finalist for the 2014
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. American Theatre magazine put it on the cover of its July/August 2014 issue and featured the script in its entirety.
Lauren Gunderson studied Southern literature and drama at Emory University, and dramatic writing at NYU's Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been commissioned, produced and developed at companies across the U.S. including South Coast Rep (Emilie, Silent Sky), the Kennedy Center (The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!), the O'Neill, Denver Center, Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Synchronicity, Olney Theatre, Geva and more. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You, Exit, Pursued By A Bear and Toil And Trouble) and Samuel French (Emilie). She is a playwright-in-residence at the Playwrights Foundation and a member of the
Dramatists Guild. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Gunderson lives in San Francisco.
Robin Larsen has been chosen to receive the 2015
Milton Katselas Award for Career Achievement in Direction by the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle, to be presented at the LADCC awards ceremony on March 16, and the production of A Delicate Balance that she directed for
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble is a current nominee for the circle's McCulloh Award for Revival. Other directing credits include Mrs. Warren's Profession at Antaeus; the L.A. premiere of
David Harrower's Blackbird for Rogue Machine (LADCC nomination, Best Production; five "Best of 2011" lists including the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly); the world premiere of Pursued By Happiness by
Keith Huff at the Road Theatre Company (Los Angeles Times "Critic's Choice"); and the West Coast premiere of The Fall To Earth by Joel Drake Johnson, starring
JoBeth Williams, at the Odyssey (LADCC Nomination, Huffington Post "2012 Top Los Angeles Theater Productions"). Robin's West Coast premiere of Four Places, also by Joel Johnson, at Rogue Machine was one of the most lauded plays of the 2010 L.A. theater season, winning Ovation, LADCC and Backstage Garland awards for Best Production. For the Black Dahlia Theatre, Robin directed the West Coast premiere of Tryst (five Ovation Award nominations including Best Production and Best Director, three LA Weekly Awards including Best Play, and two Backstage Garland Awards including Best Director) and the L.A. premiere of
David Schulner's An Infinite Ache (Los Angeles Times "Critic's Choice"). Robin is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker whose work has screened at festivals around the world. Her web series Sex & Marriage, created with playwright
John Pollono, can be seen on Justin Lin's YouTube network YOMYOMF.
Set design for I and You is by
Tom Buderwitz; lighting design is by
Jeremy Pivnick; sound design is by
John Zalewski; costume design is by Jocelyn Hublau Parker; production stage manager is Josephine Austin; associate producer is James Bennett; and
Stephen Sachs,
Deborah Lawlor and
Simon Levy produce for the Fountain Theatre.
Currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, The Fountain Theatre is one of the most successful intimate theaters in Los Angeles, providing a creative home for multi-ethnic theater and dance artists. The Fountain has won over 225 awards, and Fountain projects have been seen across the U.S. and internationally. Recent highlights include being honored with the 2014 Ovation Award for Best Season and the 2014 BEST Award for overall excellence from the Biller Foundation; the Fountain play Bakersfield Mist in London's West End starring
Kathleen Turner and
Ian McDiarmid; the sold-out Forever Flamenco gala concert at the 1200-seat John Anson Ford Amphitheatre; and the last four Fountain productions consecutively highlighted as Critic's Choice in the Los Angeles Times. The Fountain has been honored with six Awards of Excellence from the Los Angeles City Council for "enhancing the cultural life of Los Angeles."
I and You opens on Saturday, April 11 and continues through June 14, with performances Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Preview performances take place on Thursdays, April 2 and April 9; Fridays, April 3 and April 10; and Saturday, April 4, all at 8 p.m. Tickets range from Pay-What-You-Can at every Thursday performance to $15-$34.95 on the weekends. The Fountain Theatre is located at 5060 Fountain Avenue (at Normandie) in Los Angeles. Secure, on-site parking is available for $5. The Fountain Theatre is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For reservations and information, call
(323) 663-1525 or go to
www.FountainTheatre.com.
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