This Is Our Youth

The title of Kenneth Lonergan's 1996 play overstates its case: It's not an all-embracing portrait of America's youth—unless all our youth are busy peddling drugs and robbing their parents. The piece is more of a quirky character study of a pair of addled slackers and a girl who hangs out with them.

The time is 1982, and the place is a one-room apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where loudmouthed, egomaniacal wheeler-dealer Dennis (Paul Romero) is curled up, reading Playboy. He's interrupted by an unexpected visit from his friend Warren (Lance Shigematsu), a socially inept sad sack, who has been thrown by his father out of their apartment and is seeking a place to crash. Dennis is in no mood to play host, particularly when he learns that Warren has stolen $15,000 from his father. He urges Warren to return the cash before Dad finds out—but Warren has already spent some of it on a pricey sushi dinner. The only solution seems to be to use part of the money to buy a substantial amount of cocaine and sell it for enough to replace what has been spent. They also plan to buy champagne to entertain Dennis' girlfriend and her pal Jessica (Alexandra Oliver). When Dennis sets out to make the buy, Jessica turns up, expecting a party. After shy skirmishing, Jessica and Warren discover a mutual attraction, and Warren decides to spend more of Dad's dough on a room at the Plaza Hotel, where they can have sex and watch the sun come up over Central Park.

Lonergan's character comedy is skillfully written, and it's highly enjoyable if you don't expect it to go anywhere. Director Jamison Jones stages it with meticulous attention to moment-to-moment dynamics. Oliver brings a nice blend of spunkiness and vulnerability to Jessica, and Romero segues neatly from brash self-confidence to blind panic when an unexpected and unnerving catastrophe defeats his plans. Shigematsu endows Warren with so much feckless, dunderheaded charm that it's hard to believe he has trouble attracting girls.

Presented by The Circle Stage at the El Centro Theatre, 804 N. El Centro Ave., Hollywood. Nov. 11-Dec. 4. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (800) 838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/200310.