This Is Our Youth

"teenagers have so much more depth of experience than their parents think and so much less than they think," --Kenneth Lonergan

As I was skimming a play anthology called Under Thirty in search of plays that might contain good college audition monologues, I was surprised to see a title I recognized: This Is Our Youth, by Kenneth Lonergan. I was lucky to get a chance to see the show at Steppenwolf this past summer, performed by Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, and Tavi Gevinson. I decided to read it--it's a great play, and I was interested in seeing how different my experiences watching it and reading it would be. I've read plays and then seen them before, but never the reverse, expect for a few Shakespeare shows I saw when I was too young to remember much about them.

I was shocked. It was almost like reading a different play. I remembered the plot, of course, but a lot of other things seemed very different. For one thing, the character descriptions of some of the characters differed greatly from what I saw onstage. For one thing, Cera's and Culkin's characters are written as being nineteen and twenty-one years old (respectively), which changes the way you register their words and actions a great deal. Also, Gevinson's character was much closer to her real age. She was playing a nineteen-year-old, so that affected the relationship dynamics between her and the other two as well.

But what stood out to me even more was the way that the actor's interpretations affected how I saw the story. Michael Cera brought an authentic sweetness to the character of Warren that didn't come across to me as I read the script, and Culkin's Dennis seemed even more manipulative and in-control than the one in the text. The ending felt different to me, too. In the script, it felt like sort of a resolution. When I saw it, it seemed to cut off very abruptly, unfinished. It's very cool to compare the two--the more I read and watch plays, I'm astounded by how varied different interpretations of the same play can vary. I guess that's the result of creating an entire world out of dialogue: there are lots, and lots, and lots of choices.

The reason This Is Our Youth is included in a play anthology called Under Thirty is that it's about young people. The characters are teenagers, and they're thinking and talking and wondering about it means to be a teenager--and to become an adult. But it's no coming of age story. It's about the real fear and vulnerability involved in not understanding your identity and coming to terms with death. I dug up my program from the show, and found within it and interview with Kenneth Lonergan. He says, "teenagers have so much more depth of experience than their parents think and so much less than they think," and to me this rings very true. I would highly recommend This Is Our Youth. There's sex and a huge plate of drugs that flips over and three very real, lost people trying to find themselves and each other. It's great.