This is Our Youth an End of Summer Treat

Against the backdrop of today, seeing Kenneth Lonergan’s story about young people adrift in Reagan era America probably made this play darker than intended.  Or it may have simply proven an odd reminder of how much some things don’t change regardless of the setting or the time. Often for very compelling reasons, there will always be people who find it hard to face the work of growing up.  Unlike Dennis (Tommy Montgomery) in this adaptation of Lonergan’s This is Our Youth, most don’t have the choice not to. 

The son of a famous painter, his parents can and do pay for his apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan so that no one has the need to suffer the physical presence of the other.  Although he mentions being a bicycle messenger until he decides what he wants to do, you’re left with the impression that what he really wants to do is what he is doing; getting high and dabbling in the sale of drugs.  His depth of knowledge about in the appearance and smell of marijuana is consummate as is the scope of his network to score.  Domineering, brash and egotistical, Dennis’s brand of confidence is far too callous to be considered attractive.    

Characteristic of sycophants, his friend Warren (Jack Rento) is his radical opposite.   19 years old, tried college and decided no, he lives at home with his wealthy father and spends his days stoned.  When we meet them, Warren’s just been kicked out of the house and landed at Dennis’s. In tow, $15,000 in cash he’s stolen from his father.  “Proceeds from my unhappy childhood.”

In a very short time we get a deep feel for the nature of this friendship.  One in awe of the other, emulating and appeasing.  The other using humiliation and derision to insure no one confuses the hierarchy.  As disquieting as that may sound, it isn’t.  The air of reality hangs too heavy in this highly competent production to get bogged down in a single impression.  These characters may be exaggerated, but they have many incarnations in the real world.  It’s that reality that makes This Is Your Youth so appealing.  Warren’s willing to absorb torrents of verbal abuse for friendship; even friendship as caustic as this. 

Wit is the saving grace that runs thick throughout this interesting play. Both guys are funny.  Dennis is simply comically gauche.  But Warren is another animal all together.  His wit is sharper, much more refined and there’s always a little bit of poison on the tip of his jabs.  Despite the seeming imbalance of their relationship, they constantly challenge one another verbally.  Still, in and of themselves, they’re not intriguing.  That doesn’t happen until a woman enters the fray.

High-strung, sensitive, smart and hot, Jessica (Megan Wilcox), a friend of Dennis’s girlfriend, drops by unexpectedly.  Warren has already mentioned her and let’s Dennis know he thinks she’s “really cute”. It’s clearly a full-fledged crush. One that’s of course ridiculed by Dennis.  But when he and Jessica are left alone together, a different Warren tries to break out of the chrysalis.  This one could almost be a player. Almost. 

It’s here we see some fine acting.  Rento’s performance was already on a soft glow up to this point.  But this scene exposed the potential of his depth.  The timing and the shadings of emotions you read from the slightest shifts in body language as well as his deft delivery were all handled with disarming mastery.  Not to be outclassed, Wilcox’s Megan was also sniffing the edges of formidable.  It was her character who suggested we don’t have to settle for what we are today.  That our adult selves could be the antithesis of who we are now.   It’s not until Dennis and Warren see that the paths they’ve on can lead to no more tomorrows do they stop to reconsider who they are and what they want. 

Some aspects of This is Our Youth are troubling.  The casual racism built into the dialogue may be ugly but it carries the ring of what you might hear when unintended ears aren’t listening.  The unconsciously vile language of intimates. In that sense, it’s truthful and an accurate depiction of who we are.

That this production is the realized dream of two acting majors going into their junior year of college is astounding. Presented in Evanston’s Piven Theater, the play’s low budget would never allow the polish of a professional endeavor. Which is not to say the set or other technical components were lacking.  On the contrary, each was credible and solid.  But what This is Our Youth does have, it has in abundance.   The purity and pleasure of exceptional theater.

This is Our Youth

The Quarry Theatre Company

Aug 16 – 18    2019

The Piven Theater Workshop

Noyes Cultural Arts Center

927 Noyes St.

Evanston, IL   60201