This is Our Youth

by Kenneth Lonergan

Directed by Matt Pheiffer

May 26 - June 5, 2010

Kenneth Lonergan brilliantly captures the essential time period when we think we've got the world figured out, only to realize that we know nothing.  Graduating from our teenage years to adulthood and the pressure of identity is an intense struggle. In Dennis, Warren, and Jessica the struggle is intensified by their dependency on parents. But that dependency is both a blessing and a burden, because it provides a safety net, but the net undercuts the very freedom they enjoy.

Peter Marks of 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. They are at that peculiar moment of life, their late teens and early 20s, when dissoluteness has not yet calcified into hopelessness, when a lack of purpose and a predilection for the quick fix might still, from the most optimistic perspective, be interpreted as a phase. It is 1982, early in the fast-and-loose years of the Reagan Administration, and we are in the Upper West Side Apartment of Dennis Ziegler, the 20-year-old son of a famous painter. Dennis is a narcissist and a manipulator, a modern-day Fagin to the slightly younger neighborhood ne'er-d-wells, who are only too happy to have him heap abuse (and cocaine) on them. Into this man-child's messy apartment, walks Dennis's acolyte, Warren Straub, carrying a suitcase full of toys -- and the $15,000 he has lifted from hi father. What follows are 24 hours in an amoral landscape in which Dennis wants to be king but ultimately seems only a prisoner."

With an ear attuned to the coarse, ironic language of city kids too cosmopolitan for their own good, Lonergan spins a wildly funny, bittersweet and ultimately quite moving story.  This is Our Youth has extremely strong language, adult situations, and drug use.  It is recommended for ages 17 and up.  The performance is directed by Matt Pheiffer and features the talent of Zack Robidas, Robert DaPonte and Alison Barton.

The latest in the Playhouse on Park play series,"This is Our Youth" opened May 26 An additional three performances are scheduled:  Thursday, June 3 at 7:30 PM';  Friday, June 4 at 8:00 PM, and Saturday, June 5 at 8:00 PM.  Tickets range from $22.50 - $32.50 and can be purchased in person, over the phone at 860-523-5900 ext 10; or online at www.playhouseonpark.org.   A $10 student rush is offered 15 minutes prior to curtain with a valid student id, cash only.  Playhouse on Park is located at 244 Park Road, West Hartford.

The Cast

ZACK ROBIDAS is a founding member of At Play Productions. Zack spent six summers with the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and is a graduate of DeSales University. He has appeared on Law and Order, L&O Criminal Intent and NBC’s Kings. Other film credits include Tooth and Nail and It’s Complicated. He has also performed in NYC the past few years with Flux Theatre Ensemble and The 24 Hour Plays Company. He recently finished production on a pilot for ESPN’s website called The Leader.

ROBERT DaPONTE has been an actor for 12 years, and currently lives and works in Philadelphia.  Favorite roles in Philly include Estragon in "Waiting For Godot "(EgoPo productions), Jasper in " Heart of Gold" (PlayPenn) Larry in "Mr. Marmalade", Bobby in " American Buffalo", (Both with Theatre Exile) Lloyd in " MUD" and Prof. Broom in "The Giant Squid" (Both in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival). He studied acting at Bradford College in Haverhill, Massachusetts and The National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut.

ALISON BARTON will be a senior BFA acting major at The University of Connecticut this fall.  Some favorite past credits include:  Harmony Green in "Abraham Lincoln's Big, Gay Dance Party" (Connecticut Repertory Theatre),  Joanna in "Present Laughter," (British American Dramatic Academy), Cecelia in "The Rootwoman" (CRT Reading), Thomasina/ Chloe in "Arcadia" (Year of Science Reading Series), and Featured Ensemble in "Hair" (Connecticut Repertory Theatre).