Interview: Playwright Lauren M. Gunderson and I AND YOU: THE MUSICAL at McCarter Theater

McCarter Theatre Center has announced the all-woman creative team behind the highly anticipated world premiere of I & You: The Musical.  It will be performed on the Princeton stage from September 13 through October 12, 2025, and is a co-production with Olney Theatre Center.  Inspired by Lauren Gunderson’s internationally acclaimed play by the same name, this new musical reunites Gunderson with director Sarah Rasmussen, who helmed the play’s world premiere in 2013. 

I & You: The Musical tells the story of seventeen-year-old Caroline—stuck at home with an illness—and Anthony—an earnest overachiever toting Walt Whitman and waffle fries—are classmates thrown together for an unexpected all-nighter. What begins as a reluctant school assignment transforms into a soul-searching exploration of fate, friendship, and the fragile wonder of being alive.

Broadwayworld had the pleasure of interviewing playwright, Lauren Gunderson about her career and the upcoming show at McCarter Theatre Center.

Lauren Gunderson has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list three times, including the 2022–2023 season. A two-time recipient of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award (I and You, The Book of Will), she is also the winner of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in Theatre Award and the Lanford Wilson Award and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her plays have been translated into more than a dozen languages and performed worldwide. Her latest anthology, Revolutionary Women, is published by Bloomsbury. 

When did you first realize your penchant for writing?

I remember very vividly, probably as a third or fourth grader, getting an assignment to write based on an image from a newspaper. That year, I think the Orioles had won the World Series or a pennant or something, and there was a picture of the baseball team storming the mound. I was a bit of a tomboy, so I loved baseball, and that’s the picture I chose.

I remember laboring over the story I wanted to write. I ended up writing not about the players, the coaches, or the fans, but about the baseball itself, what it must have been like to be thrown in that final pitch. I was proud of myself and curious about how my brain found that corner of the story to tell. I delighted in all the specifics and the imagination it took to get into the corners of that idea. And I thought: oh, this is a feeling I will be chasing for a long time.

That’s certainly when I started realizing how much I loved words, their flexibility, their poetry, and the transportive elements that make them a window into both the microscopic and the macroscopic, and in that case, the anthropomorphic.

Who are a few of the writers that you have admired and why?

Lynn Nottage, Paula Vogel, Sarah Ruhl. Those voices meant so much to me when I was a really young writer because their work was starting to come to the forefront of American theater. It felt so fresh and resonant with me, and it still does. Also, because they’re so distinct from each other, it gave me a sense of the power of storytelling. And of course, it meant a ton that they were women, models for how to be brave, curious, and brilliant in this field that I love so much.

Among historic writers, certainly Tennessee Williams. I’m a southerner, so Tennessee Williams’ wild and wonderful characters meant a lot to me and still do. And of course, my dear Shakespeare. I can’t stop, won’t stop with the Bard.

We know you have recently published an anthology. Can you tell your readers about it?

The Bloomsbury folks have published a couple of my plays in the UK, and they were so kind to suggest an anthology of my work. It’s called Revolutionary Women, and it has five plays in it.

What’s especially cool is that my colleague at McCarter, dramaturg Julie Felise Dubiner, whom I’ve adored for a long time, wrote the essays and introduction for the anthology. I’m so honored that she would spend her brilliant brainpower on that collaboration.

It’s the first anthology of my work, the first proper literary trade edition of mine to be published, and I’m really proud of it. It includes some of my more popular plays, which is a cool win. And the cover design is very me: pink and floral, a little brazen, and I love it.

What inspired the story for your award-winning play I and You?

You know, I and You came about after I had spent the early part of my career writing a lot of histories, history of science, women’s history. My beloved agents were asking, “What’s a contemporary story that would mean a lot for you to write?” And I thought about it.

At the time, my father was working at a major hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, specializing in liver, kidney, and pancreas diseases. I met with some of the nurses there, and I also learned about patients waiting on transplant lists. That became part of the character Caroline, her illness, her depression, the way we meet her in this state of limbo.

I was really compelled by that world, because it made me think about what it feels like to be waiting, to be hoping for a healthier life, to be dreaming of something just beyond your fingertips. For a young person, that can feel even more heightened. That’s when Caroline came into my mind.

Usually when I write, I think in terms of opposites and contrasts. Caroline’s opposite became Anthony, our dear, sweet Anthony, with all the hope and positivity he represents. And then came the poetry of Walt Whitman, which became the bridge between them, from this prickly, angry girl to this optimistic young boy. The poetry allows them to really see each other.

It’s one of my favorite stories I’ve ever written.

Why do you think I and You is ideal to be adapted as a musical?

Well, part of it is that musicals are about enormous emotions. And these kids are full of enormous emotions, for harrowing reasons like the fact that Caroline is in such a delicate medical state, but also because they’re 16 and 17 years old. That age is already bursting with emotion.

The play was always a coming-of-age story, a young love story, but also a metaphysical story, a story about poetry. Music was already baked into it. Caroline loves music, and there is already a love of jazz music in the play. And then of course, Walt Whitman’s lyricism is there too. His poems are not easy lyrics, irregular, non-rhyming, stream of consciousness, but [composer and lyricist] Ari Afsar has done a brilliant job of shaping those words into extraordinary songs.

The elements were already there in the play, a reason to sing, a reason to turn it into a musical. And honestly, it felt like a no-brainer. But it’s also a challenge. There are not very many two-person musicals, and that means it requires efficiency while also allowing for expansion. Like the play, there is so much more going on than first appears. The music both serves the story and allows it to live in a way it couldn’t as a play, because music is so full-hearted and so full-voiced.

Can you tell us a little about the team at McCarter that is bringing this world premiere to the stage?

The coolest part is that Sarah Rasmussen, McCarter’s artistic director, who is directing the musical, also directed the world premiere of I and You the play. This is a true reunion. It has been ten years since that premiere, and there was never anyone else in my mind who could direct this. Since then, both Sarah and I have developed a love for musicals, so it feels like a perfect reunion.

Ari Afsar has become one of my dearest friends and collaborators. We’ve worked on several projects together, including at the O’Neill. I adore her, not only as an artist but as a humanitarian, an activist, a vivacious entrepreneurial spirit. And her songs are just killer. This is another chance for us to work together, which is a gift.

And then our amazing cast. We are so lucky to have Jasmine Forsberg and Benji Santiago. They are complete professionals with deep curiosity, which makes them fantastic collaborators on new work. They hold themselves to such a high standard, and they’ve built a trust and camaraderie with each other that is infectious. Their charm and wisdom shine through.

What would you like audiences to know about the show?

I’d like audiences to know that it is very funny. It is fast, vivacious, surprising, and moving. These songs will stick in your head for years to come.

At its core, the show is about expansive, heartbreaking hopefulness. It’s about the universal harmony we can find with and between each other. It’s about the truths and connections we discover with people we didn’t expect to have anything in common with.

It’s a story about unity, beauty, hope, resilience, wonder, and dreaming.

We’d love to know some of your future plans.

I have a ton going on right now, and I am so, so grateful. Let’s see. I have a number of musicals. Shariah Kwame and I are working on Lady M, which is basically a feminist, witchy prequel to Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

I have a show with Kira Stone called Built for This, about the incredible heroism and bravery of women gymnasts. Kira and I are also collaborating on a new Pride and Prejudice musical, which I am thrilled about because I never tire of imagining new Austen projects.

I have new plays as well. One is a two-hander called Muse of Fire, about Will and Anne Shakespeare. The surprise there is that I’ll be starring in the world premiere. The world premiere hasn’t been announced, as to where it is happening, but it’s a dream come true to do that play. Writing the play and then stepping into it myself has been wild and wonderful.

My show Billie Jean, about the indomitable Billie Jean King, a feminist and queer icon and unstoppable force for good in America, premiered at Chicago Shakespeare this summer and will be heading to Broadway soon.

Another new play is Lady Disdain, a RomCom about Romantasy audiobook narrators. It’s very sexy, funny, and romantic. That one premieres next year at Asolo Rep and Forward Theater.

Yes, a lot. I’m very lucky. I love writing and I love being able to work in so many communities with trusted colleagues. It is truly a dream.

Tickets for I and You: The Musical and subscription packages are now on sale at mccarter.org, or by calling Patron Services at 609-258-2787. Groups of 10 or more save 20%. For group reservations, email groups@mccarter.org. McCarter Theatre Center is located at 91 University Place, Princeton, New Jersey 08540.
 

Photo Credit: Tatiana