In the spring of 1981, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the woman who was known for her work with patients who were terminal, came to St. Louis. In my memory of that spring afternoon, the main stage theater at The Rep was full, or nearly so, of people who were eager to hear what the author of On Death and Dying had to say. I was a nurse in mid-career. I had a strong interest in end-of-life care at a time when hardly anyone knew the word "hospice" and teaching hospitals almost never focused on it.
When she talked to patients, Kubler-Ross said, she would explain that she was interested in the experience of people who are seriously ill. Thirty four years later, a few yards beneath where she spoke, the Rep Studio is offering "I and You," a play about a young woman, a senior in high school, who is, indeed, seriously ill. Caroline doesn't look that ill, she's slight, perhaps a little small for her age, but she could be a girl browsing at your local mall. But she doesn't go to school right now, which is why a classmate, Anthony, stops by to work on a homework project on Walt Whitman he's supposed to do with her.
There's a turtle in her room, and we eventually realize it's a metaphor for her. But what might have been used is a porcupine. She's not interested in homework, Anthony or Whitman. She's angry about almost everything around her, and doesn't waste time sulking when she prefers to shriek. Overplayed? Overwritten? No, not really. I can't tell you the number of times I heard things thrown in the rooms of patients of similar age in similar situations.
Anthony is a charmer, not quite so poised as he seems at first, but patient, and as enthusiastic as any teenager who's fallen in love with one of the arts as he tries persistently to talk Caroline into helping with the project he's managed to put off. Lauren Gunderson's excellent script is carefully drawn to pull together the Whitman work many of us think of as a cliche, adolescents in both hot and cool modes, living with a life-threatening illness and 1950's rock and roll. Whitman, in fact, almost becomes an off-stage character in the work. First-rate work from Rep newcomer Danielle Carlacci as Caroline, and a strong performance from another new face for the house, Reynaldo Piniella, Anthony. They nail this one. The set from scenic designer Eric Barker is a classically chaotic adolescent bedroom. Jane Page's direction clearly understands that this is definitely not a "teenage play", but ones that goes to far greater themes. And an extra tip of the hat to Mr. Whitman, who has a paragraph toward the end of the play that could have been St. Francis. All this in a single, three-scene act.
Not an easy show, but extremely worthwhile and close to stunning.
I and You
through November 15
Studio Theatre
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis