A benefit reading of Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth will be presented November 16 at 7 PM at The Center at West Park in Manhattan.
Also benefiting The Center, the reading will feature Academy Award winner Matt Damon and original cast members Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo and Missy Yager. Obie winner Mark Brokaw (How I Learned to Drive) will direct.
The evening, honoring founding and current Center Board President Mim Warden, will kick off CWP’s Renowned American Playwrights Showcase, a collection of readings showcasing works performed predominantly by their original casts. In the coming months, expect readings of plays from Tony Kushner, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Suzan-Lori Parks, and more.
The forthcoming reading will be followed by a brief talkback with the cast, director, and playwright.
This Is Our Youth, which centers on three aimless New York City teens, was first produced Off-Broadway in 1996 by the New Group starring Ruffalo, Yager, and Josh Hamilton with direction by Brokaw. The Broadway premiere, starring Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, and Tavi Gevinson, opened at the Cort Theatre in 2014
“I grew up a few blocks away from the CWP,” says playwright Lonergan. “I went to school on 88th Street. My parents lived in the same apartment on 92nd Street for 52 years. The Upper West Side is my hometown and my heart. I’m thrilled that This Is Our Youth will be the first reading in the Center’s Renowned American Playwrights Showcase.
“The series will allow The Center at West Park to continue its support of emerging artists from all disciplines, as a cultural anchor for not only the Upper West Side neighborhood, but all of New York City. The Center at West Park is a critical space for weekly worship, affordable rentals for artists and arts organizations, community gatherings and more. What’s more, the CWP has the potential to expand its mandate, and to develop into a major arts center on the Upper West Side, on the model of Joe Papp’s Public Theater."
Funds raised from the event will allow the Center to continue to provide its breadth of community, social responsibility, and arts and culture programming, as well as enable the building to remain a place of worship for the Lighthouse Chapel congregation.
For ticket information visit CenteratWestPark.org.
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