THIS IS OUR YOUTH Will Come to the Olive Branch
Kenneth Lonergan's coming-of-age dramedy comes to The Olive Branch, starring Jackson Cameron Gordon and Jesse Katz
In a first-time co-production, Dig Deep Theatre and Theatre Extempore are teaming up to bring Academy Award winner Kenneth Lonergan's breakthrough coming-of-age dramedy “This Is Our Youth” to The Olive Branch in Valencia for nine performances across two weekends, opening May 8, 2026.
Noted for their incisively-acted, boldly-directed and technically-lush productions, the collaborating companies' presentation is the Santa Clarita Valley's first chance to see Lonergan's sharp, layered writing in live performance.
Set against a hardscrabble New York City down on its luck in the early 1980s,”This Is Our Youth” chronicles a pivotal 24 hours in the lives of three young adults on the Upper West Side. With the characters emerging into adulthood in the era of Ronald Reagan, the play is an insightful snapshot of both the moment between adolescence and maturity, and a particular era in America.
Warren Straub (Jackson Cameron Gordon) arrives on the stoop of his drug-dealing Best Friend Dennis Ziegler (Jesse Katz) with nowhere to go and $15,000 in cash — stolen from his possibly mobbed-up father — in his backpack. In a cloud of pot smoke and a whirlwind of banter, the two wayward young men are interrupted by self-assured fashion student Jessica Goldman (Shawnee Badger or Kelsey Tuma, depending on performance times) who forces them to confront who they all are and where they are headed in their lives.
“This play keeps coming back because of the universality of its themes, and the fascinating, relatable characters Kenneth Lonergan has crafted,” says Jeremy D. Thompson, who directs the production.
“At some point, we all know the feeling of standing at the edge of a precipice — anxious and ready for our next chapter to begin. This is where we find Warren, Dennis, and Jessica. Sometimes, all that can get you through that moment are your friends and your record collection.”
“This talented cast brings these characters, their apprehension, and the liminal nature of that time to the stage with rich inner lives and performances so engrossing that I find myself moved every rehearsal — no matter how many times I've read or seen the scene.”
Recently revived on Broadway starring Kieran Culkin and Michael Cera, “This Is Our Youth” premiered Off Broadway in 1996, and featured a career-making performance from Mark Ruffalo. Subsequent casts have included such luminaries as Jake Gyllenhaal, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, and Colin Hanks. The play marked a breakthrough for playwright Kenneth Lonergan whose motion picture credits include writing and directing “Manchester by the Sea” (Oscar, Best Original Screenplay) and “You Can Count On Me;” as well as co-writing “Gangs of New York” and “Analyze This.”
Ranked at number 12 in the “Best Plays of the Last 25 Years,” The New York Times wrote of the play: “The world Mr. Lonergan explores is the desolate, dead-end universe of young Manhattanites with rich parents and no direction…With an ear attuned to the coarse, ironic language of city kids too cosmopolitan for their own good, Mr. Lonergan seems to know this terrain well.”
“The dialogue is energetic, idiosyncratic, outrageous, and gives such a specific voice to each character,” says Badger, who serves as producer and portrays Jessica Goldman.
“This Is Our Youth was one of the first plays I ever read where the dialogue alone just jumped off the page and smacked me in the face. I remember thinking, ‘I didn't know people could write like this.' Lonergan really captures that moment of young people emerging into adulthood and figuring out how to trust others when the world they are entering seems so callous and dangerous.”
Dig Deep Theatre and Theatre Extempore are two 501(c)(3) non profit theatre companies, both founded in northern Los Angeles County.
Dig Deep focuses on creating opportunities for actors to bring meaningful and uplifting classic and contemporary plays to life. They were the first Santa Clarita company to produce a ZOOM show at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; post-lockdown, Dig Deep produced their first in-person show with a successful run of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. In 2023, they presented David Auburn's Proof, which Santa Clarita Councilmember Jason Gibbs called, "incredible...phenomenal...powerful, emotional"; and the founding editor of Stage Raw, Steven Leigh Morris, wrote had him "leaning forward in [his] seat the whole time." In 2024, the Company produced Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie in a moving, dreamlike production that earned one of its performers The Main Element Award for Best Performance.
“This Is Our Youth” is Theatre Extempore's second production of 2026, following a well-received run of the classic musical “The Fantasticks” at The MAIN in Newhall. Last year the company presented Tennessee Williams' “Talk to Me LIke the Rain and Let Me Listen” at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and “Stupid f-ing Bird” by Aaron Posner, in a co-production with the Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival. “Bird” received three LA Theatre Bites Award nominations and numerous nominations in Broadway World Los Angeles' annual voting.
Videos