By Patti Roberts<\/p>\n
For a cynical teenager, Caroline\u2019s bedroom is surprisingly full of colorful walls, bedspreads and even her PJs. We meet Caroline as she bounces around, singing and dancing to tunes blasting through her cramped quarters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then there is a knock on her bedroom door, and a stranger enters, announcing that he\u2019s Anthony and he\u2019s there to help Caroline with a class assignment based on Walt Whitman\u2019s \u201cLeaves of Grass.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is our introduction to two teenagers navigating their lives and exploring their differences and similarities in Capital Stage\u2019s \u201cI and You\u201d by Lauren Gunderson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These two characters initially have polar-opposite personalities that don\u2019t quite meld together. Caroline (McKenna Sennett) is angry, sarcastic and defensive due to her bedroom confinement because of a serious health condition and Anthony (Braeden Harris) is a popular high school basketball player anxiously trying to engage Caroline in their class project partnership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through sometimes combative conversations at first, the two begin to reveal more of themselves to each other. And to the audience. It\u2019s like watching a tennis match unfold as they lob parts of their lives, likes and loves across to each other.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The story is told through the pair\u2019s subtle dialogues, humor, angst and Whitman\u2019s writings. Quotes from Whitman\u2019s \u201cLeaves of Grass\u201d begin to connect the plot lines and are recited as Biblical references and passages.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The play takes place in Caroline\u2019s bedroom, and at times, you keep waiting for the plot to unfold. The pace lags in the middle but picks up with small twists along the way and the climactic conclusion is intensely shocking and stunning \u2014 a truly epic ending.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a two-character, one-act drama confined to a never-changing set, it\u2019s essential that the two actors convey a connection with each other. Under the careful direction of Director Imani Mitchell, the bond between the actors is quite apparent. Both Sennett and Harris really capture teen attitudes through their dialogue, expressions and gestures, which allows you to witness their growth along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The play runs 90 minutes with no intermission. There is an American Sign Language interpretation during the Dec. 20 performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI and You\u201d plays at Capital Stage through Dec. 28; Wednesdays to Fridays, 7 p.m., Saturdays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays 2 p.m. 2215 J St.<\/p>\n
This story is part of the Solving Sacramento <\/a>journalism collaborative. This story was funded by the City of Sacramento\u2019s Arts and Creative Economy Journalism Grant to Solving Sacramento<\/a>. Following our journalism code of ethics, the city had no editorial influence over this story. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Hmong Daily News, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review and Sacramento Observer. Sign up for our \u201cSac Art Pulse\u201d newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Patti Roberts For a cynical teenager, Caroline\u2019s bedroom is surprisingly full of colorful walls, bedspreads and even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[19307,53739,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-98430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-capital-stage","tag-review-of-capital-stages-i-and-you","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}