On Stage: Performing Arts at Our Oneonta Campuses by Rachel Frick Cardelle
Student Director Discusses Upcoming Production of ‘I and You’
“I eat hot dogs cold, often.”
Can we agree this might be one of the weirder responses a director of a play might give to the question, “Without giving anything away, what’s your favorite line of dialogue?”? That was the answer given to me by Katelyn Litwak, a senior at SUNY Oneonta and the director of “I and You” by Lauren Gunderson, the next play production to come to one of our college stages. Yet by the end of our interview, I completely understood why this was the line that came to her, and I hope that by the end of this article you will, too.
“I and You,” an award-winning play first performed in 2013, provides an engaging, funny, thoughtful evening of entertainment. It’s the story of one afternoon in the life of two high school-aged students, Anthony and Caroline, working together on an English Lit. project based on Walt Whitman’s poetry collection, “Leaves of Grass.” Anthony shows up at Caroline’s house the day before the project is due, announcing that they are project partners, and he needs her help. This comes as a shock to Caroline, who has been stuck at home for much of her life due to an illness. The two of them spend the rest of the play getting to know each other as they work on the project.
I asked why this play, and Katelyn told me that when she originally looked around for a play to do one of her professors, Drew (Kahl), suggested this one. “Love Letters” had been the play another student (Emily Kramer) had directed and been ready to open in the spring of 2020 but, like much else in the spring of 2020, the play was “postponed” until the fall of 2020. When SUNY O again suspended all in-person classes and activities that fall, Emily Kramer’s production was one of the casualties of the COVID pandemic. Katelyn shared with me that she had contacted Emily to talk about being a student director and I asked how Emily felt after all the work on the play that she and her team had done never saw the light of day, while Katelyn was going to get to stage her production. Katelyn told me that Emily gave her blessing, saying she was happy Katelyn could make this happen. Which makes Emily, a young woman who is more than three decades younger than me, far more mature and gracious than I fear I would be in a similar situation!
What drew Katelyn to decide to stage this production was in large part the role that Anthony plays, that of bringing light to Caroline’s world and reminding her in small ways that life is good. Katelyn was one of the freshmen who had to head home when SUNY O shut down all in-person activities in the fall of 2020, so that instead of getting the “college experience” she expected, she, like Caroline, had to spend much of her time at home not getting to hang out with fellow students. There were people who brought Katelyn’s life the same kind of light that Anthony brings to Caroline in the play, and Katelyn wanted to do this play to honor those people.
When our discussion turned to the challenges of being a director, especially as a student, Katelyn reflected on having to learn how to let other people in the production do their jobs in their own style. Katelyn told me she is a planner, preferring to get all her ducks in a row well in advance of any deadlines. Others she has needed to rely on to put the show together rely on a more “seat of the pants” style, which raised her anxiety level as a planner. Learning how to manage that and respect the creative process that others go through was her hardest challenge. She said that the support and advice of the theater department chair, John Bagby, was critical in this.
When our conversation turned to actors and directors who most inspired Katelyn, I anticipated hearing her tell me about shows and actors she had seen in New York City or elsewhere. Instead, she thought for a moment and said those who inspired her most as a director were alumni and faculty, like John Bagby, who acted as guiding lights and offered support and advice to her.
As we wrapped up the interview, Katelyn said that to her the overarching message of “I and You” is that it is the small, easily overlooked things in life that often are what most make life worth living. As a director, she has tried to make sure her production emphasizes that message. When I interviewed Katelyn, I had already read the play and sat through a full rehearsal, enjoying both immensely. And as Katelyn articulated it, I realized that overarching message had been part of my enjoyment. Walking home after talking to her, I found myself suddenly and completely captivated by two trees that I walk by every day without seeing them. The deep, rich red and orange of their leaves, alive and as full of flickering movement as any bonfire’s flames, warmed my heart and gave me a quiet joy that followed me home. My conversation with Katelyn and her production of “I and You” will, I hope, continue to inspire me to pay attention to the small, easily overlooked beauty in life, whether that’s beautiful foliage or cold hot dogs.
I will be going back to see “I and You” once it opens, just to enjoy the show again and be reminded that one of the small things in life that makes it worth living are the myriad opportunities to see live theater having two colleges in town offers.
You can watch “I and You” in the Fine Arts Center’s Hamblin Theatre on SUNY O’s campus October 26- 28 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) at 7:30 p.m., and October 29 (Sunday) at 2 p.m. for $8.00, general admission, or $3.00 with a SUNY Oneonta ID.
Up Next: “Keely and Du,” performed at Hartwick College, November 8–11 at Hartwick’s Slade Theater and “All in the Timing,” performed at SUNY Oneonta, November 9- 12.
Rachel Frick Cardelle covers performing arts at SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College.