What is I and You about?
I and You is a two person show about a girl named Caroline who is very ill do to liver failure, and a boy, Anthony, comes over to her house to do a school project. As both of them work on the project and procrastinate, they discover different truths about themselves and find the deeper meaning of what actually brought them together. 

What role do you play, and how does she fit into the story?
I play Caroline, who is a 17-year-old girl living with an illness she’s dealt with ever since she was little. We find out about her love for photography and her future goals once she becomes more comfortable with Anthony. Her tough attitude and strong personality are hard to read through, but we see vulnerability as the show goes on. 

What are some of your character’s strengths and weaknesses?
My character’s strengths include: creativity for art and having strong opinions on things that she is very aware of and knows a lot about. Some of her Weaknesses are that she doesn’t like to let people into her life and doesn’t like to trust people. Her sickness has caused her to think that she will never be able to care about people in the fullest way. She is closed minded with her feelings for other people and that blocks off a road of opportunities that she has never been aware of. 

What do you find most challenging about your character?
The challenges to playing this character are finding the reality of feeling completely alone and like no one understands who I am. Caroline is a naturally open and willing-to-learn person, but the illness stops her from doing this. 

What line in the play means the most to you?
I feel like one of the most important lines for me is when Caroline is talking about how her liver is causing her to die and she say “It’s not fair to me, OK. It’s not fair to me first.” When I first read this line, it struck me because it’s something that she doesn’t tell people. People are constantly sad around her and sad that she is dying and pity that she is falling apart and they end up making it about themselves instead of her. So for her to actually say that it’s not about you and it’s not fair to me is something that I feel like really strikes people because of how true it is. 

What makes I and You challenging/exciting/interesting to you?
I and You is a very challenging and exciting show to do. Caroline is a spunky and sassy girl that just wants to live her life the way she wants to because she doesn’t know how much time she will have left. She puts the pain away and tries to make it funny because sometimes the only way you can deal with pain is to laugh about it and make a joke out of it. We see her vulnerable sides throughout the show in little moments because she hates to show them to people. Caroline is a challenging character because she had so many barriers between herself and she doesn’t like to let people in, but something about Anthony changes that in her. 

Why do you believe theatre is important?
I believe theatre is important because it tells a story. Any story you tell can have an importance to it if you truly believe it is worth sharing. For the audience to believe you, you have to show them that you care. Theatre is extremely important to me because I get to show people and find deeper meanings to life, love, sadness, anger, beauty, and many other things. People can relate to the characters and feel sympathetic for them. I tell each story with a peace of my own following it. I tell the story to understand life, to understand the relationships that we have with people every day and to show people that you are never alone when you feel a certain way. I believe theatre is important because everyone can find a way to relate to each story. 

What is I and You about?
I and You is about two teenagers brought together due to an English project concerning Walt Whitman’s, Leaves of Grass. Through this project however, they navigate their youth as teenagers in high school as they ponder topics such mortality, love, and New York City.
 
What role do you play, and how do they fit into the story?
I play Anthony. Anthony is a high school senior who is an “A” student. He loves life, poetry, jazz, the saxophone, and basketball. His role in the story is the person that comes into Caroline’s room with the news that they have an English project to complete that is due the next day.
 
What are some of your character’s strengths and weaknesses?
Anthony’s strengths are that he is charismatic and friendly. Weaknesses include procrastination and his undying love of pop tarts.
 
What do you find most challenging about your character?
I think what challenges me most about Anthony is the task of tapping into his life and genuinely playing a high school senior. My high school senior year was only 3 years ago so I still remember, to an extent, what that was like to me. I also keep in mind however, that as high school seniors, Anthony and I have had a very different experience. It’s important for me to recognize both the similarities and the differences.
 
What line in the play means the most to you?
Anthony says at one point, “I’d love to go to New York City.” Caroline seconds that. Being born and raised in New York City, it is very cool to hear these characters have this strong desire to go to the “Big Apple.” I think it hints at their youthful energy and their desire experience so much more in life than they have experienced already. I think that is such a big part of this play. These two teenagers—whether one wants to admit it or not—are hungry for life. They know that there is so much more out there than their high school experience.
 
What makes I and You challenging/exciting/interesting to you?
The challenge of this play is for me to convincingly play a high school student whose experience was in most ways not like my own. Not all people in high school had the same experience. I know my experience in high school was far different than Anthony’s experience, but you would think that the fact that I went through and graduated from high school only three years ago would be enough preparation to convincingly play a high school student. I believe the audience will be able to tell if I am acting out the clichés of a teenager in high school. The audience, I am sure, would not only see through that, but feel disconnected from my character.
 
Why do you believe theatre is important?
Theatre is important because in some ways it helps people process, digest, and live the human experience. Different stories in theatre can relate to somebody in the audience or inform another person in the audience about a story and/or experience that is not only not their own, but is also a story and/or experience that they were never aware existed. Of course, and this should not go unsaid, theatre is a great form of entertainment. I believe to be entertained is a powerful and important thing that one can give to another person or group of people.

What is your role in the production of I and You?
I am the Costume Designer for this production.
 
How do the costumes in I and You reflect the lives of their respective characters?
Our two characters are contemporary high school students living their lives on one specific day. Caroline’s world is bounded physically by the walls of her bedroom and her illness but is also infinite thanks to her phone, wifi, internet, and dreams. Anthony arrives from the outside world of school, sports, and looming American Lit assignments with his own realities and dreams. I hope to express each of them visually.
 
What questions do you ask yourself early on when designing costumes for a show?
In the earliest stages of designing a show I want to know why (and who) the characters are. I read the script. And I read the script. I might read the script several times, looking for the clues, the subtext, the flavor of the individuals. I want to know where they are in their lives, how they got there, and where are they going. I think about them on pages that the playwright hasn’t written for us. I also think a lot about the practical elements of clothing choice and how those choices serve the characters and the rhythm of the script.
 
Did the designs end up changing much from what you had originally planned?
When I originally read the play I had not had the opportunity to speak to the other members of the artistic team. Those initial thoughts, while an interesting academic exercise, were too cumbersome for our actual staging. When I committed pencil to drawing paper I incorporated visual influences from all the high school students I encounter, elements that suited both characters and details to stay true to my original thoughts.
 
What do you like about I and You, and why do you believe theatre is important?
I was attracted to this play because of the characters and their story. My reaction after reading the play for the first time was immediate … I wanted very much to share this with our audience. Theatre is important to hold a lens up to life; it magnifies, focuses and reflects our realities. Please come share I and You with me.
 

What is I and You about? 
Caroline is a feisty teenage girl who has taken a leave of absence from high school due to a serious medical condition. At the beginning of the play, Anthony shows up in her bedroom to get her help on a school project which analyzes Walt Whitman’s poem Leaves of Grass. Caroline and Anthony’s encounter turns into a humorous and determined battle of wills. 
 
What do you like about I and You? 
The characters have a story that is spirited, combative, funny, mysterious and emotionally-charged.
 
What is most challenging/interesting about the play? 
The most interesting part of the play is how the characters surprise each other.  
 
What is your favorite part of the directing process? 
Once the staging outline is set in, I love discovering the unpredictable behavior that reveals the characters’ personalities. There is no small talk on stage because everything means something. In rehearsal we explore how the characters need each other and how they approach each moment in their roller-coaster relationship. 
 
How many aspects of the show have changed since your original plans? 
No matter how thoroughly I prepared to direct the play, everything changes once the play is cast. I have no way of knowing in advance how the actors will work together or how they will respond to the challenges that I offer. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Victoria Fearn and Jabari Matthew on this production! They are young artists who have had excellent training, and they bring to the rehearsal intelligent ideas, bold choices and imaginative verve. Even though we only started working a few days ago, they have great chemistry together!
 
What makes I and You relatable to audiences here and now? 
The story deals with The Big Questions concerning our greatest hopes and fears about life and death. Walt Whitman’s poetry is the catalyst for the characters discovering an extraordinary connection.
 
What types of conversations do you want the audience members to have on their way home from seeing this play? 
I hope they will be discussing the meaning of the relationship between Caroline and Anthony.