“This Is Our Youth”

** Coming of age! Over the years , we have seen many plays that use this as their theme. Gwydion Theatre Company, a California company that has moved to Chicago is starting their second season with such a play. It is Kenneth Lonergan’s “This Is Our Youth” directed by Andrew Shipman. This company has taken up residence at The Greenhouse Theatre Center’s “Studio 44” space. This is an intimate stage area with roughly 44 seats, and quite comfortable.

This particular story takes place in 1982, so young people will notice that there is a regular phone ( albeit, a push-button) as cell phones were evidently not available way back then! The story is about two teens during a 24 hour period. They are guys who are sort of “best freinds”. There is also a girl involved in the story, who like the guys is going through some identity problems of her own.

When you enter the theater, you will see Dennis (well played by Grayson Kennedy) in his studio apartment. He is watching TV and doing teen “stuff”. His “bestie” Warren (deftly handled by Kason Chesky) comes to visit carrying a suitcase as well as backpack. It seems that he has been kicked out of his house by his father and needs a place to stay. It turns out that Dennis has his own place because his parents wanted him to live alone. By the way, Dennis makes his living selling drugs.

Warren , in leaving his dad’s house, has taken some money ( $15,000 ) with him as well as his prized possessions. Some of this has been used and so Dennis, who feels he can do no wrong devises a plan to recoup the dollars and make a profit. This will allow Warren to sneak the dollars back into his father’s briefcase and not get in trouble. Warren, like Dennis is unsure of how he fits into life itself , who he is and where he might be headed. Warren, a loser when it comes to the opposite sex, has a crush on Dennis’ girlfriend’s bestie, Jessica ( Annelle Ciolino) who comes over and during their scene decide they are good together. They go to a hotel, order room service and spend the night, using the dollars he has taken.

Every plan made by these two teens goes bad and while the premise for this story is one that could be effective, I found it to be far too long ( two hours and twenty minutes with one intermission) and repetitive. This is 2024 and a play like this would be far more effective in 100 minutes without a break. I truly feel that the audience would be held better and that the monologues that Dennis does ( as good as he does them) are far too wordy. I also did not see each of our characters find all of the answers.

I felt that the set (Grayson Kennedy) was neat, the lighting and sound (Morgan Wilson) and Shipman’s direction were solid. I am not aware of who did the props, but there were a great number of very cool ones including a 1914 Cubs cap and a special toaster. There is a lot of language and some smoking ( pot and cigarettes/not real).

“This Is Our Youth” will continue at The Greenhouse Theater Center’s “Studio 44” thru September 28th with performances as follows:

Thursdays   7:30 p.m.

Fridays        7:30 p.m.

Saturdays   7:30 p.m.

Sundays     2:30 p.m.

For tickets call box office at 773-404-7336

visit www.greenhousetheater.org

To learn more about Gwydion Theatre Company, visit www.gwydiontheatre.org

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “This Is Our Youth”