Privileged youth going nowhere fast

Author: Kelsey Smith

I spent my last Thursday before Feb break peering into a vast expanse of young Manhattanites with rich parents who seem to be on a treadmill of hopelessness. "This is Our Youth," American playwright Kenneth Lonergan's first play, follows two disillusioned Upper West Side kids who are trying to deal with life and failing. Largely in part because their parents, who went from liberals to financial have-it-alls, imparted upon them some serious emotional baggage and family issues that made it nearly impossible for their kids to function.

"This is Our Youth" struck me in a particular way. Maybe it's because my high school years were spent wandering around the Upper West Side with kids similar to Warren and Dennis, the two main characters, though we were never in the market to score a large amount of cocaine. We were, however, plagued by a particular brand of malaise that hits well-off kids who don't quite know what to do with their lives and who are not exactly being driven to immediate action in the way that financial motivation alone can provide. It is a type of ennui that sneaks in here at Middlebury as well - you know that feeling you get when you're slightly bored, slightly depressed and you cannot quite put your finger on what's causing it. You feel like a spoiled brat because here you are with everything you need and more than you probably deserve and yet you are still not entirely happy.

It was for this reason that I found it particularly interesting that Lucas Kavner '06.5 chose to direct this piece as his senior work. It made perfect sense, really, standing at the cusp of supposed adulthood, that he should choose to bring something to the stage that dealt with all of these issues we will face, some of us sooner than others. Once again, despite the fact that most of us aren't escaping from manipulative, abusive fathers or figuring out how to score a large amount of cocaine, the underlying concerns are the same - relationships, to each other and to our parents, grief, happiness, fulfillment - on the whole, how to make sense of life.

The choice of Freeman International Center (FIC) as the setting for the show was a particular stroke of genius, whether it was intentional or a matter of space due to the prodigious amount of theatre produced at the end of J-term, and set designer Maria Galvez '06.5 should be commended for her success in turning a dining hall into a studio. The awkwardness of the space conveyed the trapped feeling one gets from living in small apartments. The fact that the audience was so close to the actors and the actors' ability to perform without acknowledging the audience members left viewers feeling like voyeurs into this life that exists in spades behind the doors of the Upper West Side.

The dynamic between Warren and Dennis is a definite power struggle that left us wondering if Warren would ever be able to find himself in a relationship of any kind that was not abusive in some way - "I'm like the basis for half your personality," Dennis tells Warren. While Warren is physically abused by his father it is clear that Dennis' constant teasing has left an impressive emotional scar. When Warren tried to bring this to Dennis' attention, Dennis replied, "We all talk that way - it doesn't mean anything." There was a definite obsession with "youth culture" intermediated by a specific way of speaking that was used throughout the play. This "youth speak" was never abandoned and even made its way into the director's notes. This way of speaking, unique to young city-dwellers in the '80s with a new brand that exists today, showed us that Warren and Dennis were man-children each in their own way.

Though Dennis was on his own while Warren was still forced to deal with his father on a daily basis, it was implicit that Dennis relied heavily on his (artistically famous) father for financial support. The suitcase of childhood memorabilia that Warren carries around represents his child-like qualities to a certain degree, though it should be understood as a lot more. With a pained expression continually plastered on his face, Willie Orbison '08 was more than convincing as the neurotic, confused Warren, his character easily manipulated by the booming baritone of John Rayburn '06.5. There was a certain vulnerability added to Orbison's performance by Veracity Butcher '09, who played Jessica, a cute FIT student who sleeps with Warren, and helped him realize that perhaps he could follow someone besides Dennis around.

The cast and crew of This is Our Youth created an evening of theatre that didn't feel like one, and I mean that in a good way. From the location to the luminous duck in the corner to the soundtrack of The Smiths and Bowie, we glimpsed into our future, some of us glimpsed into our past, and were greeted with smart, convincing performances that were clearly guided by sound direction with an ultimate vision on the horizon.