NORTH NEWTON – Bethel College is bringing back live theater with the spring play, “I and You,” by Lauren Gunderson. 

The play opened Thursday on the Krehbiel Auditorium stage in Luyken Fine Arts Center and can be seen at 7:30 tonight and Saturday, May 1. There will also be a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee, as well as a livestream option.

Face coverings will be required, and physical distancing enforced, for in-person performances. 

Tickets for all performances and the livestream can be purchased during regular business hours in Thresher Shop on campus, or at the door starting one hour before each performance (subject to availability).

“I was introduced to “I and You” by Lauren Gunderson in the fall of 2019,” said director Karen Robu, Bethel assistant professor of communication arts, “and fell in love with it. 

“I wish I could elaborate more on why the play was so impactful to me, but if I did, it would be a ‘spoiler alert’ for the audience! 

“Suffice to say, it spoke to an interconnectedness of all humanity that I had experienced. After over a year living through a pandemic, that statement is even more true.” 

The play has only two roles, so it is double cast. Jaxie Gerk, senior from Holyoke, Colo., and Hayden Honomichi, freshman from Great Bend, appear as Caroline and Anthony in Thursday’s performance and the Saturday matinee. Charlotte Ehrmann, senior from Augusta, and Nathaniel Schmucker, senior from Moundridge, star on Friday and Saturday evenings. 

Gunderson, the most produced living playwright in America, sums up I and You this way: “One afternoon, 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 quick and sardonic as Anthony is athletic, sensitive and 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, love and the strange beauty of human connectedness.”

The play deals with adult themes, including serious illness and death, and contains strong language. Robu said she would probably rate it PG-13 and does not recommend it for children. 

Ticket prices are $10 for adults and for the livestream, $8 for non-Bethel students and adults age 65 and older, and $2 for Bethel students (unless faculty have paid for the ticket).

Thresher Shop hours are Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can also purchase tickets by phone with credit card information by calling 316-284-5205.