Casting Announced For CSUSM Production Of Lauren Gunderson's I & YOU

California State University San Marcos School of the Arts presents Lauren Gunderson's uplifting and provocative I & YOU, directed by Jason Heil. This is part of the 2017-18 Season that includes The Woman in Black, The Bald Soprano, Waiting for My Summer and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

Lauren Gunderson was the most produced living playwright in America in 2017. I & You is one of her most popular works. On the night before a class assignment is due, Caroline (Dominique Duren) and Anthony (Dwaine Collier Jr.) plumb the mysteries of a Whitman poem...unaware that a deeper mystery has brought them together.

Director Jason Heil raves about Gunderson. "I first encountered her work on a production of Silent Sky at Lamb's Players Theatre. She is simultaneously grounded and theatrical in her work. Intelligent language, wry dark humor, truthful and complicated characters and most of all, a hungry curiosity for humanity and what we mortals are doing in this messy universe.

"Caroline is a wonderful heroine for our students." Heil continues. "She is not overtly nice or sweet. She is smart, quick and has been dealt an unfair hand. When Anthony shows up in her room, she reflexively throws up her defenses. What follows doesn't feel Disney-fied or clichéd, but simple and truthful. We don't know where this story is going to take us."

I & You is a part of CSUSM's continuing commitment to presenting diverse, contemporary voices to the San Marcos community. Ticket information can be found below.

DWAINE COLLIER JR. (Anthony) is a fifth-year student at CSUSM majoring in visual and performing arts. Dwaine will graduate in May and is very eager to pursue a Masters degree in Fine Arts. At CSUSM, Dwaine has appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, and the devised work, Waiting for My Summer. He recently appeared in his first professional production, The Ballad of Emmett Till at ion theatre company (nominated for Outstanding Dramatic Production at the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards) and a reading for the New Voices Festival at The Old Globe.

DOMINIQUE DUREN (Caroline) was most recently seen as Peter Quince in CSUSM's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other acting credits from CSUSM include As it is in Heaven (Izzy), Twilight LA: 1992 (Keith Watson, Jay Woong Yahng, Mrs. June Park), and Stop Kiss (Nurse). Dominique was nominated for, and a semi-finalist for, an Irene Ryan Award in 2017 for her performance in As it is in Heaven. Some of her interests include knitting, French, percussion, and leading the improv team on campus. Her next project will be Assistant Directing Melissa Coleman-Reed's production of Men on Boats at New Village Arts.

Jason Heil (Director) has directed The Woman in Black, Stop Kiss and A Midsummer Night's Dream at CSUSM. Elsewhere in San Diego, Jason has directed for Moonlight Stage Productions (You Never Can Tell, Ring Round the Moon, Barefoot in the Park, The Mousetrap, Born Yesterday, The Lion in Winter), Intrepid Theatre Company (The Turn of the Screw) and New Village Arts (Plaid Tidings). Acting Credits: Off-Broadway: Sea of Souls (ion theatre). Regional and San Diego: Lucy Simon's Zhivago (La Jolla Playhouse), Twelfth Night, Plaid Tidings (Old Globe), Hand to God, Violet, Clybourne Park, A Christmas Carol (San Diego Repertory Theatre), The Miracle Worker, Wit, The Glass Menagerie, Into the Woods, The Winslow Boy & 15 other productions (Lamb's Players Theatre - Associate Artist), Art (Intrepid Theatre Company), Noises Off, Cabaret (Cygnet Theatre Company), Passion (Craig Noel Nomination - Outstanding Leading Performance in a Musical), Angels in America, Sea of Souls (ion), School for Lies, Dracula (North Coast Repertory Theatre), The Lion in Winter (Moonlight Stage Productions), Three Days of Rain (Compass), the Arkansas & Tennessee Repertory Theatres, Capital Stage, A Noise Within, & nine seasons with the Utah, Lake Tahoe, Marin, & Texas Shakespeare Festivals. Upcoming, Jason will be appearing in the World Premiere of Herbert Siguenza's Beachtown at San Diego Repertory Theatre. Jason teaches for Cal State University, San Marcos, Grossmont College, The Old Globe Theatres and San Diego Junior Theatre, as well as privately. MFA: UC Irvine. www.jasonheil.com

LAUREN M. GUNDERSON (Playwright) is the most produced playwright in America of 2017, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award, the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, she is also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation's 3-Year Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She 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 US including South Cost Rep (Emilie, Silent Sky), The Kennedy Center (The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The O'Neill, The Denver Center, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Synchronicity, Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire and more. She co-authored Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley with Margot Melcon, which was one of the most produced plays in America in 2017. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You, Exit Pursued By A Bear, The Taming, and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists (The Revolutionists, The Book of Will, Silent Sky, Bauer, Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon was be released from Two Lions / Amazon in May 2017. LaurenGunderson.com and @LalaTellsAStory

I & YOU is producted by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com).

DATES: February 8-10, 2018

LOCATION: ARTS 101 on CSUSM Campus - 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos 92096 (Paid parking available - parking included with some tickets)

TICKETS: Tickets are available at:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-you-tickets-42021971849?aff=ehomecard

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