Off Broadway

This Is Our Youth

 (Intar Theater; 99 seats; $15)

By GREG EVANS

A New Group presentation of a play in two acts by Kenneth Lonergan. Directed by Mark Brokaw.
 
Cast: Josh Hamilton (Dennis), Mark Ruffalo (Warren), Missy Yager (Jessica).
 

Set in 1982, well before smartass Gen X slackers became a genre unto themselves, Kenneth Lonergan's "This Is Our Youth" focuses on three post-adolescents who, despite their ages and lack of direction, have precious little in common with the pop-culture-spewing wiseacres of "Friends." The humor here (and there's much of it) springs from a darker well, as characters struggle with past haunts and uncertain futures. Although Lonergan's play about moneyed Manhattan twentysomethings is itself weakened by the same aimlessness that plagues its characters, it is nonetheless an effective and honest character study enlivened by three terrific performances. One actor in particular Mark Ruffalo is a genuine discovery.

The shabby Upper West Side studio apartment (authentically rendered by Allen Moyer) and the characters' scruffy clothes give no indication of privileged backgrounds, yet the look is absolutely on target. "Right now you're a rich little pot-smoking burnout rebel," says one character to another, "but 10 years from now you'll be a plastic surgeon."

The rebel is Warren (Ruffalo), a seemingly dim-witted dead-ender who shows up at the apartment of his best (though none too nice) friend Dennis (Josh Hamilton). Warren has just been kicked out of his house by his businessman father with nothing but a suitcase full of beloved childhood mementos and $ 15, 000 stolen from his shady-dealing dad. Dennis, fearful of the father's retribution and not a particularly loyal friend in the first place, initially rejects Warren's plea for help, but then devises a scheme in which the two will spend a portion of the money on cocaine, make a profit, and return the $ 15,000 before anyone notices.

During the course of 24 hours, Warren spends even more of the money. He takes Jessica (Missy Yager), a young woman he wants to impress, for a night of first-date sex at the Plaza Hotel. Dennis' fears of violent retaliation over the stolen money loom heavy.

Unfortunately for the play, looming is about as close to plot as "Youth" gets. What little action there is the drug deal, for instance, or the sex occurs offstage. What we have is two hours of conversation among the three characters, and as finely written as the dialogue is (Lonergan's ear is unfailing), the static "Youth" can't escape its studio apartment claustrophobia.

The playwright does better with character development. Dennis, a callous, nasty-tempered jerk who belittles his friend at every turn, is more complicated than we're initially led to believe. That's even more the case with Warren, whose vacant, Keanu Reeves-like "dude" affectations gradually melt away to reveal something broken inside. It's a terrific performance by Ruffalo, funny and heartbreaking at once. Both Hamilton and Yager do fine jobs (both in roles that are, to one extent or another, unsympathetic), but "Youth" is Warren's story, and Ruffalo runs with it.

Director Mark Brokaw draws more movement from the talky play than one would expect, and the tone of the production is appropriately unsentimental. "This Is Our Youth" has the makings of a decent play, or better yet, a screenplay: Keep the characters (and the actors), develop the plot and get out of the apartment. The story needn't be as motionless as the dopers who populate it.

Set, Allen Moyer; costumes, Eric Becker; lighting, Mark McCullough; sound, Julie Tudor; stage manager, Brandy Rowell; casting, Judy Henderson, Alycia Aumuller. Artistic director, Scott Elliott. Opened Oct. 30, 1996. Reviewed Oct. 29. Running time: 2 HOURS, 5 MIN.