By Regina Hinkley
I and You, Theatrix, Friday February 14, 2025
“Thank You? For tonight. For being so…nice.”
If you’re in the mood to take a trip back to 2013, feel free to arrive right as the house opens at Theatrix’s I and You, written by Laura Gunderson. You’ll be treated to a teenager’s messy room and a playlist ripped straight from early 2010’s Tumblr, when the internet wasn’t so pervasive and life was a bit simpler. In the Lab Theatre’s arena seating, you’re welcome to take a seat anywhere you like and enjoy looking at every adorable detail on the set, lovingly designed by Charlie Berens and then carefully crafted and painted by students. The string lights hung up around the set are reminiscent of teen movies (and my bedroom from highschool), and the lighting design, done by Reece McAdams, shines (pun intended) throughout.
I and You is a beast of show for the mere fact that the whole thing is carried on the backs of two actors. Caroline and Anthony (played by Delaney McDermed and Diego DiPasquo respectively) are the main focal point of this story, and the only two characters to appear on stage, which isn’t very common even for Theatrix’s tendency for smaller casts. Furthermore, as the program states, the two of them and the design team only had three weeks to put the show together, which makes it that much more impressive. The audience learns early on that the two of them have been assigned a poetry project related to Walt Whitman, leading to several lines of the beautiful poetry being littered throughout the play. This is partially why the director, Grace Ulrich, was drawn to the piece in the first place, and the respect for the poet throughout is evident.
McDermed’s portrayal of Caroline, a sick teenager who lives out of her room and is therefore wary of getting excited about anything or getting close to anyone, is one of the more compelling things I’ve seen in a long time. Her realistic depiction of a teenager is refreshing; there is awkwardness, uncertainty, and a certain vulnerability that only comes once you’ve gotten past carefully constructed walls. Her excitement juxtaposed with her melancholy and sobering discussions of death was an absolute marvel to watch. You want to root for her, even if she’s prickly and standoffish. DiPasquo’s performance as Anthony was the perfect compliment to McDermed’s, but that’s not to say that it didn’t stand out in its own right. From the moment he walks into her room, you believe that Anthony is a real teenage boy; he’s brash, unsure of himself yet oddly confident, and he doesn’t understand girls. Like, at all. Both of them together are realistic and heartwarming, yet not overly saccharine, which is hard to achieve.
I and You is a play that’s meant to make you feel something. It’s meant to make you feel connected to the people around you, even if you’re strangers. The world isn’t so cold and uncaring if you’re willing to look for the warmth, because at the end of the day, there will always be someone there for you, even if you don’t know it. There will always be you and I, and maybe that’s enough for now.
If you go: I and You runs from February 13th – 16th in the UNL Temple Building Lab Theatre and has arena seating. Sit anywhere you like; there really is no bad view. Tickets are $7 ($5 students) and can be purchased at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/unltheatreandfilm/7104.
Regina Hinkley is a theatre student at the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film at UNL. She is a playwright, performer, and avid enjoyer of theater of all kinds.
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