SUNY Oneonta Mask and Hammer Theatre Club Performs "I & U"

On Thursday, Oct. 26, the SUNY Oneonta Mask and Hammer Theatre Club performed "I & U," a play written by American playwright and screenwriter Lauren Gunderson. This play features two characters named Anthony and Caroline, and is recognized as an ode to youth, life, love and the strange beauty of human connectedness.

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 mundane poetry project unlocks a much deeper mystery that has brought them together.

The production's director was SUNY Oneonta Theatre and Psychology dual-major Katelyn Litwak. The cast and rest of the production team were also SUNY Oneonta students. "I & U" has been in development by the Mask and Hammer Theatre Club since the spring of 2023.

"I knew I wanted to direct a show, but I had no idea what show to propose," said Litwak. "I turned to the professors for advice, and one suggested I and You. The show was set to open in spring 2020, but it was canceled in March when everything shut down. The director at the time, Emily Kramer ('21), never got to see her vision for the show come to fruition. After reading the play myself, I instantly fell in love with it. Theme of finding the beauty in life through "the small stuff" really spoke to me, and the ideology was something that, I believe, we all need a reminder of."

Additional students who helped produce the show include stage manager Sofia Delgado, costume designer Sarah Izzo, sound designer Jessy Gardner, lightning designer Lindsey McCreadie, props coordinator Jessica Davis, assistant stage manager Renee Hooper, "Caroline" actress Evelyn Winters and set designer Gabriel Gutierrez, who also played "Anthony."

The production of "I & U" was performed in the Hamblin Theater at SUNY Oneonta from Thursday to Saturday, Oct. 26-28, at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. Information about future shows performed by the Mask and Hammer Theatre Club and the SUNY Oneonta Theatre Department can be viewed online at https://suny.oneonta.edu/theatre-department/season-shows.