I AND YOU
Playwright Lauren Gunderson
Dates Mar 30 - Apr 17, 2022
Digital on Demand Dates: Apr 13 - May 1, 2022
Run Time 90 Minutes, No Intermission
PRICE In-Theater $20-$68 • Digital on Demand $25
Get In-Theater TicketsGet Digital-On-Demand TicketsAbout the Play
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 guards 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.
Warning! There are moments of intense flashing/strobe lights that may be unsafe for patrons with eplilepsy or light sensitivy. • Theatrical haze is used in the production.
Watch the Artist Talkback Video below.
What is their favorite book? The first play they saw? What are they bringing to the play?
About the Playwright

Lauren Gunderson (Playwright) has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list twice including 2019/20. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s 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. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and her play The Half-Life of Marie Curie is available on Audible.com. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming, and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer, Natural Shocks, The Wickhams and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon is available from Two Lions/Amazon. She is currently developing musicals with Ari Afsar, Dave Stewart and Joss Stone. LaurenGunderson.com.
I and You by Lauren Gunderson received a National New Play Network rolling world premiere that started at Marin Theatre Company and has been produced by over 40 professional companies nationwide.
Cast & Creative Team
- Anthony Pascal Arquimedes*
- Caroline Sarah Lord*
- •
- [*member Actors' Equity Association]
- [**member United Scenic Artists]
- Director Cait Robinson
- Scenic Design Riw Rakkulchon**
- Costume Design Fabian Fidel Aguilar**
- Light Design Molly Tiede**
- Sound Design Kathy Ruvuna
- Stage Manager Meg Lydon*
Stories & Reviews
“I and You” at Portland Stage offers healing, hope and the beauty of human connection – Molly Adams, Portland Press Herald
Theater review: In a lived-in bedroom, two teenagers exchange ideas about life – Steve Feeney, Portland Press Herald
Actress at Portland Stage Company has been on 207 before — and it’s quite a story – 207 NewsCenter Maine