Duke Guthrie

VALDOSTA – Valdosta State University Theatre & Dance has received a nod from the Kennedy Center.

The VSU production of “I and You” is one of six plays selected from a nine-state region, said H. Duke Guthrie, the VSU Theatre & Dance faculty member who directed the show last September as the season-opening production.

VSU is scheduled to perform playwright Lauren Gunderson’s “I and You” twice in early February as part of the Region IV Kennedy Center / American College Theatre Festival 50, Guthrie said. The festival will be held in nearby Americus because it is the epicenter of the nine-state region, Guthrie said.

Playscripts.com describes “I and You”: “Anthony arrives unexpectedly at classmate Caroline’s door bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass,’ an urgent assignment from their English teacher. Homebound due to illness, Caroline hasn’t been to school in months, but she is as sardonic as Anthony is popular. As these two let down their guards and share their secrets, this seemingly mundane poetry project unlocks a much deeper mystery that has brought them together. ‘I and You’ is an ode to youth, life, and the strange beauty of human connectedness.” 

The show’s original two-member freshmen cast of Daniel Lennox Jr. as Anthony and Mahogany Wesley as Caroline will perform in the festival. 

The show also had two student designers for costumes and sound.

Guthrie will be joined by original creative team of faculty members Ruth A. Brandvik, scenery and projections; Genny Wynn, lighting; along with Joe Muncy as building manager.

Late January and February is a busy time for the VSU Theatre & Dance season. The annual children’s play is scheduled to open the first week of February; rehearsals are also underway for a late February drama and a spring musical. Guthrie and other faculty are already preparing for the summertime musicals of Peach State Summer Theatre.

Lennox and Wesley are reviewing lines as they are also participating in the spring shows. Lennox is also a dancer in the scholarship fundraiser Dancing with the Valdosta Stars.

The “I and You” troupe has a narrow window of opportunity for rehearsals, Guthrie said. The children’s show plays Sawyer Theatre Friday evening and Saturday morning. The group can rehearse this weekend before traveling to perform the show Feb. 8, 9.

Though the original production was performed in the Lab Theatre, Sawyer Theatre is key to the festival rehearsals. The Georgia Southwestern State University stage in Americus was designed by Zeb Lackey, who also designed Sawyer Theatre at VSU; the two stages are similar, Guthrie said.

The busy schedule and short rehearsal window should prove nothing new for the cast and company.

The week prior to opening in September, rehearsals were halted due to Hurricane Irma. Even in the wake of a hurricane that devastated Florida and wreaked havoc in South Georgia, the show went on.

And the cast never missed a beat come opening night.