REBECCA HALE
Reverb Editor
The Performing Arts Company will present its first show of the semester this weekend: Kenneth Lonergan’s “This is our Youth.”
“This is Our Youth” is a small-scale play, featuring only three characters: Warren, Dennis and Jessica.
Joan Cusick, a junior acting major who plays Jessica said that she has loved working with a small cast.
“Being in such an intimate setting has allowed me as an actor to really explore my character,” she said. “With such a small cast we have the luxury of really getting to know one another. We all support each other and enjoy what we do.”
The show presents a look into the post-Vietnam era anti-hippie culture of the 1980s, from the point of view of these young adults who live in Manhattan.
“‘This is Our Youth,’ although set in the 1980s, is timeless because it speaks to the time in between youth and adulthood,” Cusick explained. “It speaks to that sometimes painful awakening into the real world that everyone goes through.”
The production, under the direction of Mark Diven, a senior BFA acting major, will be put on in room 117 of Houghton Hall, a different venue from most of PAC’s shows. This setting was chosen for its large windows, which contribute to the studio apartment feel of the play. Kevin Stevens, a junior acting major who plays Dennis, said that the performance space is not a vital component to the play, though.
“We could perform this show in a cardboard box and still trigger the same impact to the audience as if we were in the most grandiose space on campus,” Stevens said. “The performance space is almost irrelevant once the play begins, and the attention is on the characters and their location, [as] opposed to the audience’s.”
The set is simple and minimal, as the entirety of the show takes place inside a living room. A more complex set would likely take away from the thematic values of the production.
“This style is far better to portray the depth and abrasive style of this play,” Stevens explained.
The themes that run within the lines of “This is Our Youth” also run through history and are still applicable to life in the present.
“I can only hope the audience realizes what this show has made me discover: we are limited, we are mortal, we will die,” said Stevens. “Everything that happens in this show is real. It happens every single day, to millions of people. People are ignorant, people are careless, and those people can die. People should walk away with the awareness that they’re not as indestructible as they claim to be and that their life is precious to everyone around them. Especially for the almighty 20-somethings, this is an imperative lesson to learn.”
One important theme within “This is Our Youth” is dishonesty and its common occurrence.
“The characters we encounter lie to themselves on multiple occasions, just as we do in our everyday lives,” explained Dan Rivera, a freshman acting major who plays Warren. “Fortunately for us, circumstance forces the characters to bring truth to the forefront. The show is a lesson that we can all learn from.”
In one sentence to sum it up, Rivera said, “‘This is Our Youth’ presents the audience with the harsh experience of realizing what the world is and what our choices are in dealing with it.”
“This Is Our Youth” will run on March 26, 27 and 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Houghton 117.