Posted 8:32 a.m. Friday, Aug. 21, 2015
Happy Rain Theatre Company presents the comedy, “This is our Youth” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4 and Saturday, Sept. 5 .
A UWL student-led theatre production will reflect on a moment nearly everyone can relate to: the transition from youth to adulthood.
Happy Rain Theatre Company presents the comedy, “This is our Youth” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4 and Saturday, Sept. 5 in Frederick Theatre, on the lower level of Morris Hall. Admission is free. Seating is limited.
The show focuses on the complex, emotional and scary time after high school graduation when young people try to figure out who they will be in the world. The play explores this moment in the lives of three young adults living in New York as they recreate their broken homes through dysfunctional friendships and muddled attempts at finding love.
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Calahan Skogman[/caption]
“I think the show will be nostalgic for some, challenging for some, hilarious for some, and brash for others. It doesn't matter if you're in your fifties — reflecting on what it was like to grow up in the 80s — or if you're in your late teens and can completely relate to the moments and feelings that these characters encounter and work through,” says the show’s director and producer Calahan Skogman, a UWL senior.
Skogman got the idea to pursue “This is our Youth,” by Kenneth Lonergan, from a trip to New York last summer where he saw advertisements and billboards related to its run on Broadway. After reading the script, he knew it was the one.
“I loved everything about it. The characters. The relationships. The comedy. The way it presented such a complex time of life,” he says. “It's just such a raw, real and vulnerable show.”
Skogman, a theatre performance major and digital media and broadcast minor, will experience his own transition when he graduates from UWL in December. He hopes the show leads the audience to reflect on these times in their own lives. He says everyone can relate to the characters on the stage whether they’ve known them or they’ve been them.
“The show can be harsh at times, but it can also be beautifully passionate and sensitive,” he says. “I think that's what I love so much about it.”
Happy Rain, a student-run company, is presenting the show in association with the UW-La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts. Happy Rain is passionate about giving young professionals the tools necessary to build theatre from the ground up, in hopes of strengthening their theatrical vision, experience and professionalism. “This is our Youth” is company’s fifth production in what has become a tradition stemming from the UWL Theatre’s student body.
Due to language and adult content, “This is our Youth” is recommended for mature audiences.
Calahan Skogman[/caption]
“I think the show will be nostalgic for some, challenging for some, hilarious for some, and brash for others. It doesn't matter if you're in your fifties — reflecting on what it was like to grow up in the 80s — or if you're in your late teens and can completely relate to the moments and feelings that these characters encounter and work through,” says the show’s director and producer Calahan Skogman, a UWL senior.
Skogman got the idea to pursue “This is our Youth,” by Kenneth Lonergan, from a trip to New York last summer where he saw advertisements and billboards related to its run on Broadway. After reading the script, he knew it was the one.
“I loved everything about it. The characters. The relationships. The comedy. The way it presented such a complex time of life,” he says. “It's just such a raw, real and vulnerable show.”
Skogman, a theatre performance major and digital media and broadcast minor, will experience his own transition when he graduates from UWL in December. He hopes the show leads the audience to reflect on these times in their own lives. He says everyone can relate to the characters on the stage whether they’ve known them or they’ve been them.
“The show can be harsh at times, but it can also be beautifully passionate and sensitive,” he says. “I think that's what I love so much about it.”
Happy Rain, a student-run company, is presenting the show in association with the UW-La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts. Happy Rain is passionate about giving young professionals the tools necessary to build theatre from the ground up, in hopes of strengthening their theatrical vision, experience and professionalism. “This is our Youth” is company’s fifth production in what has become a tradition stemming from the UWL Theatre’s student body.
Due to language and adult content, “This is our Youth” is recommended for mature audiences.