As the lights dim, a hush falls over the audience. They wait with quiet anticipation for the lights to come up and the show to begin. The play, “I and You,” was put on at Winona State University from Nov. 19 to Nov. 22. This play allowed students and community members to view a captivating performance in the Dufresne Performing Arts Center’s Dorthy B. Magnus Black Box Theatre. The play was directed by Heather Williams-Williams and adapted for the stage by Lauren Gunderson.
The play opens with Caroline, played by Leah Blanchette, jamming out in her room and being startled by a boy barging in with a large poster board. Through the conversations between the two we learn they have never met and the boy, Anthony, played by Daniel Lozano, volunteered to work with Caroline on this project even though she has been out of school nearly all of the time because of her illness.
Anthony shares his enthusiasm for the assigned Walt Whitman poem “Leaves of Grass” while Caroline hesitantly listens along and tries to push him away when he tries to get her to open up about herself beyond talking about her illness and how she’ll eventually die. Blanchette and Lozano did a wonderful job of portraying their characters and their combined reluctances and desires to share personal stories and parts of themselves with each other, which left the audience in fits of laughter.
Both characters are dealing with struggles, Caroline being sick, and Anthony witnessing the death of a student, but they find ways to connect with each other through the small things. Caroline’s being literally small as she shares her love of minutiae photography, and Anthony’s love of Jazz music.
I was particularly in awe of Lozano’s performance when he disclosed the information that he witnessed the passing of a teenager during a basketball game just before coming over. His ability to portray the sense of dread and fear when repeating his lines about the cold wooden floor truly brought tears to my eyes for the first of many times that night.
A teenage sense of whimsy and affection which I connected to deeply was infused into the many scenes where Caroline and Anthony are sharing the interests with each other, hoping to find connection by divulging small parts of what they enjoy to the previous stranger.
As the play goes on, Caroline no longer is hesitant towards the assignment or toward fully opening herself up to Anthony. As the play comes to close Anthony shares that he was in-fact the teenager that died earlier in the day playing basketball, and his liver is being donated to help Caroline with her illness. This final scene had me quietly holding back my tears, in the best possible way. As an English education major, the final scene of these teenagers using literature to connect and open up to each other really pulled at my heart strings.
The play ends with beautiful blue and yellow lighting covering Blanchette while she is alone and holding her heart, where Anthony now stays with Caroline, as she wakes from her surgery to her new life filled with more hope for the future.
Overall, “I and You” spoke to those that are afraid of opening up, whatever the reason, and focused on finding others to be close with and share your experiences and interests with. By connecting to others, we can learn to enjoy the smaller things in life, just like Caroline and Anthony.
Lozano and Blanchette shared what they hoped the viewers of the play took away from “I and You.” Fittingly, both found that they hoped that those that saw the play are able to open themselves up to the world and others.
“I hope that when audiences see ‘I and You’, that they’re able to not be afraid to be themselves and share your talent and interests with others,” said Lozano. “Also to live your life to the fullest everyday!”
Blanchette expressed the same sentiments as Lozano. “Connect with people. Be outgoing and talk to people,” said Blanchette. “People are a lot more than their surface get to know the deeper part of someone.”
