Olney's 'I and You' is unforgettable

Rachael Tice and Thaddeus Fitzpatrick in Lauren Gunderson's I and You now on stage at Olney Theatre/photo by Stan Barouh

It hums along at a great pace but the ending will leave you gasping.

While you predict the last scene, be ready to drop jaw.

I thought it was only for teens and college students. I was wrong.

The Olney Theatre Center has gloriously exploded in production:  The King and I, Chorus Line, and now, I and You. 

Jason Loewith, Olney's artistic director, beamed when he talked before and after the production about his focus on new plays and female playwrights, including Lauren Gunderson who wrote I and You and was on hand Saturday night to witness the glowing reception her play received by a stunned crowd.

Loewith proudly announced I and You is a finalist for the 2014 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.  After you see it, you'll know why and that it will win.

Loewith noted that theatres have to concentrate on sure-fire winners to produce income which enables theatres to survive, thrive, and experiment with new material like I and You.

Rachael Tice and Thaddeus Fitzpatrick in Lauren Gunderson's I and You now on stage at Olney Theatre/photo by Stan Barouh

And back to it: The plot captures an afternoon in the lives of two teenagers, the entire cast, who grapple with the issues of today and always:  self, others, purpose, life and death.  Starring in their conversation is a gift for English teachers everywhere:  Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.  (Were copies sold in the lobby?) The youngsters use the book to read sections to each other while working on a joint Whitman project for a class.

Social media is spot-on.  The girl, Caroline (Rachael Tice) is ill and confined to her home.  She texts her mother downstairs. Anthony (Thaddeus Fitzpatrick), a high school classmate, drops in, seeking help on their project, and his poster reveals he needs it, all right. Maybe a fourth-grader crafted it.

That Caroline likes Elvis movies (!), John Lennon and Jerry Lee Lewis (!), and Anthony favors Miles Davis and John Coltrane without any mention of current artists that I heard, is a reach to older audiences, I suppose.

The play of just 80 minutes takes place in three scenes in Caroline's jammed and "messy" (she says; she don't know what "messy" is) bedroom of books, pictures, posters, red bedding, and a "turtle," the significance of which I still ponder.

Their conversation is so today and so "teen talk." They say what adults wonder about, but don't state or ask.  For a while, Caroline is damaged goods and seeking help.  The roles reverse, and Anthony becomes the wounded.  They call each other "weird."  She calls him "Senator."  He calls her "Senator Shut-In."  They banter and knock each other. She talks exactly like every teenaged girl I've ever been around.

Some parts were just "weird," too, like Caroline showing no curiosity about the dead classmate's name or that her mother never showed up or communicated, wondering what was going on upstairs in her daughter's bedroom where a strange boy had parked himself for hours.

Towards the end the script began to drift a little, but then...

I and You is director Eleanor Holdridge's first play at the Olney where she skilfully managed the actors who obviously revel in their roles.

After the play, Ms. Tice and Mr. Fitzpatrick excitedly talked a little about their backgrounds and how jubilant they are to be at the Olney. For the role Ms. Tice auditioned in her hometown, New York, where Mr. Fitzpatrick is a transplant from the University of Alabama where he studied theatre. This spring Ms. Tice makes her film debut in Slider.

They are such a twosome and will travel next to Rochester to act in the play there, another stop in the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere.

For her terrific and special effects, lighting designer Nancy Schertler gets special kudos.  Those dark colored bulbs in the beginning didn't fool me. I was hoping they would light up sooner or later. 

Other important people in the production:  Dan Conway, scenic designer, Ivania Stack, costumes,  Matthew M. Nielson, sound, Becky Reed, stage manager, and Amy Marshall, managing director.  Bravo!

What: I and You

When:  Extended until March 30, 2014

Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832

How much: Tickets start at $48.50.

Parking:  Abundant, free, and on-site

For more information:301-924-3400

For more area productions and reviews, click DC Metro Theater Arts.


.


Patricialesli@gmail.com
 

Smithsonian photos to exit Jan. 5

James VanDerZee, GGG Photo Studio at Christmas, 1933, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Julia D. Strong Endowment and the Smithsonian, Institution Collections Acquisition Program

It's a great show for a family event over the holidays, and it's free.

What little or big child among us is not interested in pictures?

Tina Barney, Marina's Room, 1987, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, copyright 1987, Tina Barney, courtesy Janet Borden, Inc.

 

At the American Art Museum the Smithsonian presents a fascinating popular history of the U.S. in photographs, sure to fascinate even the least history-minded person in the bunch and as diverse as one could expect, with land, sky, city, and plenty of peoplescapes to intrigue.

Helen Levitt, New York, c. 1942, printed later, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, copyright 1981,  Helen Levitt

Joe Deal, Backyard, Diamond Bar, CA, from the Los Angeles Documentary Project, 1980, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Photography Museum of Los Angeles, copyright 1980, Joe Deal

 

To celebrate the 30th birthday of the Smithsonian's photo collection, guest curator, Merry Foresta, the museum's former curator of photography, studied 7,000 images in the collection, selecting 113 pieces for the show which are displayed in four sections: "American Characters," "Spiritual Frontier," "American Inhabited," and "Imagination at Work."

Robert Frank, Butte, Montana, 1956, printed 1973, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase

 

The name of the exhibition, A Democracy of Images, comes from Walt Whitman who believed the new picture-taking art form, which arrived in the U.S. in 1840, created possibilities for all Americans, Ms. Foresta said. He was right. More than the poet likely could have ever imagined, millions now take pictures using almost as many different kinds of equipment.

O. Winston Link, Living Room on the Tracks, Lithia, Virginia, Dec. 16. 1958, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Vladimir and Eileen Toumanoff, copyright O. Winston Link

 
At the exhibition's opening, Ms. Foresta briefly described the history of photography in the U.S. which early critics believed "was positioned to do miraculous things," and it did.  Ten years later people lined up to get their pictures made, so thrilled and amazed were they by the medium.

Jeremiah Gurney, Woman and Child, c. 1850, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment

The creators designed many of the works for framing, to be hung as pieces of art in the home.

Guests to the show will recognize familiar photographs and see some new ones.  Some of the photographers are familiar (Sally Mann, Annie Liebovitz, Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, Ansel Adams) while others are not.  Some of the picture takers are anonymous like these from the San Francisco Police Department:

Unidentified photographers, San Francisco Police Department, c. 1942, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Richard A. Brodie and James F. Dicke II

A museum statement says the images "explore how photographs have been used to record and catalogue, to impart knowledge, to project social commentary, and as instruments of self-expression." 

 

It all ends Sunday, so rush is in order.

Robert Disraeli, Cold Day on Cherry Street, 1932, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Mr. and Mrs. G. Howland Chase, Mrs. James S. Harlan, Lucie Louise Fery, Berthe Girardet, and Mrs. George M. McClellan, copyright 1932, Robert Disraeli

 

For helping make the exhibition possible, the people of the United States are grateful to Saundra B. Lane, Lisa and John Pritzker, the Crown Equipment Exhibitions Endowment, the Margery and Edgar Masinter Exhibitions Fund, and the Bernie Stadium Endowment Fund. 

What: A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

When: Now through Sunday, January 5, 2014, from 11:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. every day

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets, N. W. , First Floor, West

How much: No charge

For more information: 202-633-1000

Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

 patricialesli@gmail.com