Citadel Theatre's I AND YOU Begins In February
Scott Shallenbarger to direct the two-hander about high schoolers who form a surprising connection.
Cast and Production Team have been announced for Citadel Theatre’s upcoming production of Lauren Gunderson’s I AND YOU. Scott Shallenbarger, the former director of Theatre Arts at Highland Park High School and director of Citadel’s 2024 BABY, is directing. Gunderson’s 2013 play is a departure from her many historical dramas (such as SILENT SKY, produced in 2024 by Citadel) in that it is a fictional story and concerns two American teenagers.
One afternoon, Anthony arrives unexpectedly at the door of his high school classmate Caroline, bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman's LEAVES OF GRASS so that they can complete an urgent school assignment. 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 guards and share their secrets, this seemingly mundane poetry project unlocks a much deeper mystery that has brought them together. I AND YOU will open on Friday, February 21, 2025, at 7:30 pm, following previews on February 19 and 20, and will play through March 23.
Shallenbarger’s cast for this two-hander is a pair of young actors who already have significant credits on their resumes. Appearing as Caroline will be Amia Korman (they/them), a new-to-Chicago actor and recent graduate from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington. They were seen this past summer as Éponine in LES MISÉRABLES by Uptown Music Theater in Highland Park. Jay Westbrook, a 2023 graduate of Chicago’s High School for the Arts who appeared last summer as The Courier in 1776 at Marriott Theatre and appeared in 2024 in NBC’s CHICAGO FIRE, will play Anthony. Understudies are Arya Halbleib (Caroline) and Gino J. Hernandez (Anthony).
The I AND YOU Production Team will include David Solotke (Set Designer), Danielle Reinhardt (Costume Designer), Jodi Williams (Lighting Designer), Maya Reter (Sound Designer), Sheryl Williams (Intimacy Designer), MJ Dougherty (Props Designer), Bob Knuth (Technical Director), Ben Ballmer (Assistant Director/Run Crew), Scott and Ellen Phelps (Production Managers), and Abby Truett (Stage Manager).
I AND YOU is an ode to youth, life, love, and the strange beauty of human connectedness. It was commissioned by South Coast Repertory of Costa Mesa, California, and received a rolling world premiere through the National New Play Network that began at the Marin Theatre in Mill Valley, California in 2013 and continued at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, Maryland, and The Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis. It won the American Theater Critics Association Steinberg-A.T.C.A. new play award for 2014. Since then, the play has enjoyed numerous productions across the US, including off-Broadway in New York at the 59E59 Theaters. A 2014 production in London starred GAME OF THRONES’ Maisie Williams.
Citadel Theatre is in residence in the West Campus of the Lake Forest School District at 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. Tickets are $45 and are now on sale at www.citadeltheatre.org.
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