This Is Our Youth

This Is Our Youth is a theatrical play of the realistic fiction genre, written by Kenneth Lonergan. It originally premiered in 1996 off-Broadway. It takes place in the US in 1982, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, and centers around the lives of privileged youth who lack direction and fear The Disillusionment of Adulthood. Lonergan was inspired by his own experiences of listlessness and feeling lost in his youth in the early 1980s, as well as The Pointless Pursuit of Materialism that was prominent during the era. Lonergan’s characters learn that Letting Go of the Past is a crucial step in the process of growing up and that there is little they can do to resist it. 

A production of This Is Our Youth received the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play in 2015, and actor Mark Ruffalo appeared in its original production. Since then, many other famous actors have performed in or directed productions of the play.

This guide utilizes the 2000 Overlook Press edition of the script.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of sexual content and substance use.

Plot Summary

The play opens in 21-year-old Dennis Ziegler’s apartment in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan. The mood is dull until Dennis’s friend Warren buzzes up. Warren is 19 but more confident and self-assured than Dennis. He left his father’s house with $15,000 that he stole, as well as a suitcase full of all his most valuable collectibles. Dennis knows that Warren’s father will come looking for them. He tries to tell Warren he has to leave, but Warren has nowhere else to go. Warren pays Dennis $200 and lets him smoke his pot.

Dennis eventually agrees to let him stay, but not before lecturing Warren about his reckless and risky behavior. Warren tosses a football around and breaks a statue that Dennis’s girlfriend made him. When Dennis throws the ball back, he completely smashes the statue.

Warren opens his suitcase and starts looking at the 1950s and 1960s toys, records, and other valuable items inside. Dennis hates seeing the old objects and tells Warren to put them away. Warren insists he can make a lot of money from selling them (although he doesn’t want to). Dennis suggests getting cocaine and inviting girls over, to which Warren agrees. Dennis plans to keep some of the cocaine and cut it with another drug to sell and make the money back that he and Warren will have spent. 

Dennis calls his dealer but can’t reach him, and then Dennis’s girlfriend, Valerie, calls. Dennis invites her and her friend Jessica, who Warren happens to like. Next, Dennis calls a friend named Stuey, hoping he can get some cocaine from him if all else fails. Warren and Dennis ponder the idea of taking heroin but decide against it. Dennis leaves to pick up the cocaine and leaves Warren alone in the apartment.

Moments later, Jessica arrives on her own. Jessica is 19 and nervous about the prospect of adulthood. She tends to be defensive and argumentative. Still, Warren is interested in her and greets her warmly. An awkward silence follows, but soon Warren and Jessica are discussing Warren’s family, why he left home, and his desire to move to the countryside. Jessica feels like people change so much over time that the person they are in the present hardly matters. She already feels like a stranger to her past self, and wonders if her whole life will be that way. 

After another awkward silence, Jessica brings up Dennis’s family. Warren explains that Dennis’s father is seriously ill, while his mother is less than kind about it all. Warren shows off his collectibles, and Jessica admires the old toys. They remind her of her own childhood. Warren puts on some Frank Zappa music and they dance together, which quickly turns into kissing. Warren invites Jessica to rent a penthouse hotel suite with him and they leave together.

The next morning, Warren comes back pleased and feeling accomplished after his night with Jessica. He spent about $1,000 on their night. Dennis panics knowing that Warren used stolen money. Dennis insists that Warren will have to sell his collectibles. Warren agrees it’s the only solution and thinks it’s all worth about $2,500. He keeps only one item: a baseball cap that his grandfather got on the opening day of Wrigley Field. 

The buzzer rings, and Jessica comes up as Dennis leaves to sell the collectibles. Jessica tells Warren she can’t hang out with him today. Warren takes this to mean she isn’t interested in him, and Jessica believes the same about Warren. Warren proves his interest by giving Jessica the baseball cap. She accepts it at first but then gives it back. She admits that she went against her own instincts by sleeping with Warren, and leaves. 

While Warren is alone, the phone rings. Warren knocks the cocaine onto the floor as he moves to answer it. His father is on the other line and demands his money back. Warren’s father is also clearly worried about him, but Warren rejects his concerns. 

When Dennis returns, he tells Warren that Stuey died of an overdose. The news derails Dennis’s normally nonchalant manner; he becomes deeply upset about the prospect of death and wasting his own life. He wants to do something amazing and memorable, and he knows that he will have to quit using drugs to accomplish this. Dennis also worries about his father, as his mother refuses to take care of him. In finding out that Dennis got well below worth for Warren’s collection, Warren accuses Dennis of being against him. He adds that Dennis is his hero, but he is never sure whether Dennis even likes him. Dennis hates hearing this and breaks down in tears and begs Warren to change his mind. Warren eventually relents, and they sit in silence together as they consider their next move.