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Warehouse Theatre Company will open it's 2015 season with Kenneth Lonergan's 1996 comedy This Is Our Youth. The play, fresh off it's Broadway debut, will receive it's Central Ohio premiere at Warehouse Theatre beginning with a preview performance on Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at MadLab Theatre and Gallery.
The production, directed by Warehouse Artistic Director Kristofer Green, will receive a public preview on Wednesday, January 7 before officially opening Thursday, January 8 and will continue through Saturday, January 17, 2015.
Set in New York in 1982, This Is Our Youth follows forty-eight hours in the lives of three very lost young souls: Warren, a dejected nineteen year old who has just stolen $15,000 from his abusive, tycoon father; Dennis, his charismatic drug-dealing friend who helps Warren put the stolen money to good use; and, Jessica, the anxiously insightful young woman who Warren yearns for.
Funny, painful and compassionate, This Is Our Youth is a living snapshot of the moment when many young people go out into the world on their own, armed only with the ideas and techniques they developed as teenagers-far more sophisticated than their parents realize, and far less effectual than they themselves can possibly imagine.
The play, originally produced by The New Group, premiered Off-Broadway in 1996 (Drama Desk Award for Best Play nomination) and would receive an Off-Broadway revival two years later at Second Stage Theatre.
This Is Our Youth premiered on Broadway in September 2014 and is produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company. This production is currently running at the Cort Theatre starring Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, and Tavi Gevinson.
Lonergan, a playwright, screenwriter and director, is best known for his 2001 plays The Waverly Gallery (Williamstown Theatre Festival; 2001 Pulitzer Prize runner-up) and Lobby Hero (Playwrights Horizons, Drama Desk Best Play nominee, Outer Critics Circle Best Play and John Gassner Playwrighting nominee), as well as the film You Can Count On Me (Academy Award for Best Screenplay nominee and winner of the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the NY Film Critics Circle, LA Film Critics Circle, Writers Guild of America and National Board of Review awards for Best Screenplay of 2001 and the AFI awards for Best Film and Best New Writer), which he wrote and directed.
This Is Our Youth will feature Jesse Massaro (Warren Straub), John Connor (Dennis Ziegler) and Erin Mellon (Jessica Goldman), all current or former students in The Ohio State University Theatre Program.
Jesse Massaro (Warren) has performed for the OSU Department of Theatre most recently as Buddy Fidler in City of Angels, Esteban Trueba in The House of the Spirits, and Estragon in Waiting for Godot. He has also been seen on the stage with Actors' Theatre of Columbus this season as Tom Aimwell in The Beaux' Stratagem and as Malvolio in Twelfth Night.John Connor (Dennis) has performed for the OSU Department of Theatre as Jean Paul Marat in Marat/Sade, Chairman William Cartwright in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Esteban Garcia in The House of the Spirits. He has also been seen on the stage with Actors' Theatre of Columbus as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and this season as Laertes in Hamlet.
Erin Mellon (Jessica) has performed for the OSU Department of Theatre as Coco in Zombie Prom, Olivia in Twelfth Night, and in The Arabian Nights. She has also appeared on stage with New Players Theatre in last summer's Taming of the Shrew as Bianca and with Short North Stage in The Divine Sister as Agnes.
