Gunderson - I and You

METHUEN DRAMA Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square. London WC1B 3DP. UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA This electronic edition published in 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc BLOOMSBURY, METHUEN DRAMA and the Methuen Drama logo are trade marks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2018 Copyright Lauren Gunderson, 2018 Lauren Gunderson has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work. Cover image Shaun Webb All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book.

All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. No rights in incidental music or songs contained in the work are hereby granted and performance rights for any performance/presentation whatsoever must be obtained from the respective copyright owners. All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before rehearsals by professionals and by amateurs to The Gersh Agency of 42 Madison Avenue, 33rd Floor, New York, NY 10010, USA. No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: PB: 978-1-3501-0508-9 ePDF: 978-1-3501-0510-2 eBook: 978-1-3501-0509-6 Series: Modern Plays To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletter The UK premiere of I and You took place at Hampstead Theatre on 19 October 2018 with the following cast and creative team:

Caroline	Maisie Williams
Anthony	Zach Wyatt

Writer Lauren Gunderson Director Edward Hall Designer Michael Pavelka Lighting Matt Haskins Sound Paul Groothuis Composer Simon Slater Casting Anna Cooper CGD I and You was the Winner of the 2014 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. An NNPN Rolling World Premiere, it was originally commissioned by South Coast Rep and produced by Marin Theatre Company, Olney Theatre, Geva Theatre and Phoenix Theatre. I and YouForSarah Woolf, Jonathan Oakley and Thomas HaukThank you, Nathan And your very flesh Shall be a great poem. Walt Whitman, Song of Myself I remember during the first rehearsal for the premiere of I and You at Marin Theatre Company, our director Sarah Rasmussen used a word to describe this play: a benediction.

It struck me at first as a compliment, then as a rather complete description of my entire goal as a theatre-maker. I want to make plays that end with benediction. Benediction noun. 1 (religion): the invocation of a blessing, especially the short blessing with which public worship is concluded. 2: something that promotes goodness or well-being, a sacred ceremony. 3: the advantage conferred by blessing; a mercy or benefit.

This is what I want theatre to do. Be a blessing, be a sacred ceremony, be a benefit and a mercy. I want theatre to affect, encourage, challenge, and strengthen you. I think a theatre is a secular/holy place, a spiritual hub for realists, a cauldron for agnostic believers in the simple magic of humanity's greatest strength: storytelling. In the church I went to as a kid growing up in Decatur, GA, the benediction was the final statement of the service that our pastor made as he walked through the aisle to the back of the sanctuary. Go in peace, he always said.

It was not a closing of the service as much as it was an opening of the doors, an invitation back out into the world, an encouragement to take what you felt and learned inside and go use it outside. That's theatre to me. I and You contains the biggest benediction of all my plays. Its ending is usually surprising, revelatory, and quite literally poetic. It begs audiences to talk to each other after the play, to think back on what they saw, to re-experience it with new insight. To use it. To use it.

Theatre is now my church, but at their best they both gather people together in a safe and mystical place, they tell the important stories that give us back our humanity and community, they use the emotional lift of live performance to send us out into the world with more empathy, compassion, and wonder. They ask us to see the world anew and then go back into it afresh and emboldened. Theatre wants us to take the play outside of the theatre. Go outside. Go in peace. Go in art.

Go in poetry. Go. Go. Walt Whitmans 1881 edition of Song of Myself is indented or in quotes throughout the script to denote direct quotation. Hyphens denote cutoffs. Ellipses denote uncertainty.

Stair-step line progression denotes speedy line pickups. For high school productions, curse words may be replaced with: crap/crappy for shit/bullshit/shitty; what! for what the hell! screw you for fuck you; jerk for asshole; and simply omit fucking. Note on emphasis A characters emotional and vocal emphasis should attempt to build the progression from normal to intense suggested by the following punctuation and type style Normal Elevated! Intensified REALLY INTENSE THE MOST INTENSENote on music Any music selections that fall outside of the public domain may require permission to perform. The rights to these songs are not included in the performance license for this play and are the responsibility of each individual production. AnthonyA boy, seventeen.He is neat, poised, mature for his age.African-American.Hes anA Student, a team player, a nice guy.Hes not really great around girls.He takes his homework very seriously.When he likes something (jazz music) he is all in.Throughout the whole play he looks at Caroline like hes trying to figure her out.Like he really needs to know who she is.CarolineA girl, seventeen.White.She is in comfy clothing, she does not expect company,she is sick but doesnt project tbat fact..She doesnt go out.She is cynical, over it, does not let a stray feeling near the surface.Casting Note The race of each character can be altered. Setting Now. Setting Now.

In your city (I imagine Atlanta, GA). In Carolines room. A girls room but not girly. Lots of tech. This is the room of a person with a serious illness, but she tries to limit the look of sickness. There is no IV or hospital bed.

There is a small tray or table with her meds and a medical alarm. Carolines room a girls room busy, colorful but not girly a big many-pillowed bed laptop, speakers. Pop music blasts through the room.Anthonyhas just shown up.Carolinehas just turned to the door why the hell is he here? She might brandish a brush.