This Is Our Youth: Michael Cera makes Broadway Debut

Hollywood Star Michael Cera will make his Broadway debut in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's new production of Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, beginning previews on 18 Aug 2014, with an official opening set for 11 September 2014, for a limited engagement until 04 Jan 2015 at the Cort Theatre.

Michael Cera will be playing the lead role of Warren and will be joined on stage by Kieran Culkin (Dennis) and Tavi Gevinson (Jessica). The production will have a pre-Broadway run at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago from 10 Jun 2014, opening on 18 Jun and closing on 27 Jul 2014.

Synopsis: 'Set in New York in 1982, This Is Our Youth follows forty-eight hours in the lives of three very lost young souls: Warren (Michael Cera), a dejected nineteen year old who has just stolen 15,000 dollars from his abusive, tycoon father; Dennis (Kieran Culkin), his charismatic drug-dealing friend who helps Warren put the stolen money to good use; and Jessica (Tavi Gevinson), the anxiously insightful young woman who Warren yearns for. This Is Our Youth is a living snapshot of the moment when many young people go out into the world on their own, armed only with the ideas and techniques they developed as teenagers - far more sophisticated than their parents realize, and far less effectual than they themselves can possibly imagine.'

This Is Our Youth first premiered Off-Broadway in 1996 at the INTAR Theatre and was revived in 1998 at the McGinn-Cazale Theatre. It opened to excellent reviews: "A rambunctious play, by turns caustic, cruel, compassionate; a devastating portrait." (NY Times); "I doubt that no Lost Generation will ever be portrayed as tellingly, as drolly or as sympathetically as in Lonergan's stunning play." (NY Daily News); "What Mr. Lonergan gets gloriously is the whole cosmos and tempo of guys-together stuff...an exhilarating ride of sympathy and truth." (Wall Street Journal); "A surprisingly fresh dramatic vision ... a merciless dissection that hits its target with deadly accuracy." (Los Angeles Times).

Michael Cera is widely known for his many film roles including 'Juno', 'Superbad', 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World' and 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'. He is also known for his TV role as George-Michael Bluth on 'Arrested Development'.

Kieran Culkin is an Obie Award winner, who has starred in productions of Kenneth Lonergan's 'The Starry Messenger' Off-Broadway in 2009, and also as Warren in the West End production of 'This Is Our Youth'. His other Off-Broadway credits include 'After Ashley' (Vineyard Theatre), 'subUrbia' (Second Stage), and James Lapine's 'The Moment When' (Playwrights Horizons).

Tavi Gevinson will be making her stage debut. She is perhaps best known for her role of Chloe in the 2013 film 'Enough Said'.

This Is Our Youth will feature a creative team including Todd Rosenthal (scenic design), Ann Roth (costume design), Brian MacDevitt (lighting design), and Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen (sound design). It was also feature original music by Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend).

This Is Our Youth will be produced on Broadway by Scott Rudin.

- by Tom Millward