"I and You" presented by The Circle Theatre

I and YOU
play program

On a stormy and rainy Saturday afternoon, The Travelling Toe drove to the Circle Theatre in downtown Fort Worth to see their current production of "I and You".  The 2 character play was written Lauren Gunderson.  It runs for 90 minutes with no intermission.  

Lauren Gunderson

The 2 young actors, Nate Davis (Anthony) and Mackie Louis (Caroline) are just amazing in their roles.   The material is very dynamic and they played well off each other throwing out  lines and reeling them back in.   Each character is nicely fleshed out and during the course of the play we learn more about each of them...but you must be patient as bits are sometimes casually tossed out in the conversations.

The premise of the story it that Anthony, a school mate of Caroline's shows up to work on a joint school project that is due the next day.  Caroline, is home bound due to an illness and is not at all happy to have Anthony barge into her bedroom, her world or her life.  The project they must complete is  about Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and his use of pronouns in the poem - hence I and You.

Walt Whitman

"Leaves of Grass"

The playwright wrote a very funny line for Caroline to expound upon,  as she tells Anthony what she does not like about poetry is that when someone asks you if you liked the poem and you say what you think it means and then they tell you that you are wrong as it could be 4,600 other things!!  

As the project is discussed and worked on then the 2 characters begin to trust each other and we as audience members come to learn more about Anthony and Caroline.  

Krista Scott, director, must have had a guiding hand in molding these 2 young actors in this funny and emotionally charged play.  Caroline's world, which is her bedroom, is full of her favorite things and you keep spying something here, there and everywhere.   The set designer Clare Floyd Devries, did an awesome job in designing this fun bedroom. She has a tie dyed bedspread, posters of Elvis on the walls (Caroline's favorite singer), shelves full of pill bottles, a dragon kite hung over the bed, a pink fuzzy bean bad chair in the corner and some many knickknacks that Ms. Devries had to have hit many flea markets and garage sales for all the items she had placed in the room.

Well, dear readers, The Travelling Toe will have to leave the narrative here as this play has a very dramatic ending that is not to be missed.

Very interesting, exciting and excellent play.  Please go see it!



Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional theater critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.