Photo Coverage: Kenneth Lonergan's THIS IS OUR YOUTH Opens At Gloucester Stage

Gloucester Stage continues the 2013 season with Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth from August 8 through August 25 in the air-conditioned comfort of Gloucester Stage Company at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Kenneth Lonergan's funny, compassionate and powerful work is a living snapshot of the moment between adolescence and adulthood when many young people first go out into the world on their own, armed only with the ideas and techniques they developed as teenagers. In meticulous and hilarious detail, This Is Our Youth follows forty-eight turbulent hours in the lives of three very lost young souls in the big city in 1982 at the dawn of the Reagan Era. Lonergan examines the lives of three privileged teenagers in 1980's Manhattan's Upper West Side - when and where an abundance of worldly knowledge proves no substitute for familial affection. Directed by Lewis D. Wheeler, This Is Our Youth features the return of Jimi Stanton and Amanda Collins from 2012's critically acclaimed 9 Circles, and the Gloucester Stage debut of Elliot Norton award winner Alex Pollock.

The performance schedule for This Is Our Youth is Thursday, August 8 through Saturday, August 10 at 8 pm; Wednesday, August 14 through Saturday, August 17 at 8 pm Wednesday, August 21 through Saturday, August 24 at 8 pm; Saturday matinees on August 10, August 17 and August 24 at 3 pm and Sunday performances on August 11, August 18 and August 25 at 4 pm. The 3 pm Saturday matinee on August 10 is a special Pay What You Can matinee. For this Saturday matinee only the ticket price is Pay What You Can. A limited amount of discount tickets are available to Cape Annresidents for all Wednesday and Thursday 8 pm performances. For these performances only, Cape Ann residents can purchase discounted tickets for $20. Advance reservations are strongly suggested to ensure tickets at the discounted price. Year round Cape Ann residents must identify themselves asCape Ann residents when making a reservation and proof of residency must be presented at the box office the night of the performance. Following the 4 pm performance on Sunday, August 11, audiences are invited to a free post show discussion with the artists from This Is Our Youth.Gloucester Stage is handicapped accessible. Ticket prices are $40 for all performances. Senior citizen & student tickets are $35 for all performances. For reservations or further information, call the Gloucester Stage Box Office at 978-281-4433 or visit www.gloucesterstage.com

Kenneth Lonergan is a playwright, screenwriter, and director born in the Bronx, New York City, New York. He began writing in high school, later graduating from the NYU Playwriting Program. His first success came with the play This is Our Youth in 1996, and was followed by The Waverley Galleryin 1999, based on his grandmother's Greenwich Village Gallery, and 2002's Lobby Hero. Mr. Lonergan's film career began with his screenplay for the gangland comedy Analyze This in 1999. He was subsequently offered a job writing 2000's The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Mr. Lonergan wrote and directed his next film, 2000's You Can Count on Me which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. You Can Count on Me was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, won the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize, the New York Film Critics Circle, L.A. Film Critics Circle, Writers Guild of America and National Board of Review awards for Best Screenplay of 2001, the AFI awards for Best Film and Best New Writer, as well as The Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival. Mr. Lonergan went on to contribute to the screenplay for 2002's Gangs of New York which garnered a WGA and Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He wrote and directed the 2007 film Margaret starring Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, and his wife, J. Smith-Cameron. Mr. Lonergan is a member of Naked Angels. Mr. Lonergan is a member the New York Playwrights Lab which was founded by of Gloucester Stage's Founding Artistic Director, emeritus, Israel Horovitz. Lonergan has spent time in Gloucester and as an audience member at Gloucester Stage during the New York Playwrights Lab Retreats held in Gloucester by Horovitz.

Lewis D. Wheeler makes his Gloucester Stage directing debut with This Is Our Youth. As an actor he has been seen onstage at GSC in Doubt and An Ideal Husband. He is a Founding member of the new Harbor Stage Company on Cape Cod (Wellfleet), where last year he directed David Rabe'sSticks and Bones. . He directed Skirmishes at the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles and co-produced the dramatic feature film Blue Diner (WGBH/PBS). Mr. Wheeler assisted his father David Wheeler on No Man's Land at The American Repertory Theatre, Book of Grace with Company One, andBurn This at Trinity Rep, among many others. As an actor: Mr. Wheeler has appeared onstage at Harbor Stage, American Repertory Theatre, Huntington, New Rep, Lyric Stage, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co., WHAT, Publick Theater, Underground Railway/Central Square, Wellesley Summer Theatre, Shakespeare Now, Stoneham Theater, and Vineyard Playhouse. Mr. Wheeler studied theatre & film at Cornell University with David Feldshuh and received his MFA from the American Film Institute (AFI).

This Is Our Youth features the return of Jimi Stanton and Amanda Collins from Gloucester Stage's critically acclaimed 2012 production of 9 Circles and the Gloucester Stage debut of Elliot Norton Award winning actor Alex Pollock. A playwright as well as an actor, Jimi Stanton is the author of the play Outside the Wire which was produced at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2011, and at this year's Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C. Amanda Collin's regional theatre credits includeThe Seagull and Church with Harbor Stage Company; A Behanding in Spokane, The Bald Soprano, Speech and Debate, Shortstack, Colorado, and What Then with Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater; When The World Was Green and An Ideal Husband at American Stage in Florida; The Island of Slaves with Orfeo Group; and Brecht's The Life of Galileo with Underground Railway. Ms. Collins is a member of Theatre Espresso, performing interactive, historical dramas at schools and courthouses across New England. She received a BA in History and Theatre from Regis College.GSC newcomer Alex Pollock has appeared in The Seagull, and Sticks and Bones with Harbor Stage Company; Our Town with the Huntington Theatre Company; A Behanding in Spokane andDaughter of Venus with Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater; and Little Black Dress at Boston Playwrights' Theatre. In 2011, Mr. Pollock received an Elliot Norton Award for his work as KJ inThe Aliens with Company One, and in 2005 he was awarded a Princess Grace Award for his acting.

This Is Our Youth runs from August 8 through August 25 at Gloucester Stage, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. The performance schedule for This Is Our Youth is Thursday, August 8 through Saturday, August 10 at 8 pm; Wednesday, August 14 through Saturday, August 17 at 8 pm Wednesday, August 21 through Saturday, August 24 at 8 pm; Saturday matinees on August 10, August 17 and August 24 at 3 pm and Sunday performances on August 11, August 18 and August 25 at 4 pm. Ticket prices are $40 for all performances. Senior citizen & student tickets are $35 for all performances. For reservations or further information, call the Gloucester Stage Box Office at 978-281-4433 or visit www.gloucesterstage.com.