Michael Alcide and Jennifer Fomore in Our City.

Inspired by Our Town, Thorton Wilder’s classic stage work about turn-of-the-century America, Youth Onstage! (YO!), the youth theatre of the All Stars Project, created an experimental theatre workshop production called Our City, about life in New York City at the dawn of the 21st Century. Our City opened Friday, November 11, 2005 and closed December 4, at the All Stars Project’s performing arts and education center.

Our City was created over the course of an eight-week rehearsal period by a cast of eight young actors, all of whom came through the Youth Onstage! Community Performance School. Through a process of observation, improvisation and experimentation, the young performers — under the direction of Youth Onstage! artistic director, Dan Friedman, and Brian Mullin — created more than 20 characters representing different social strata and ethnicities from each of the city’s boroughs. “Life in New York City in 2005 is far more complicated, diverse and intense than life in 1905 Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire,” says Friedman. “Our City is New York City as it is today — through the eyes of a group of the city’s young people.”

Youth Onstage! offers young people, ages 14 to 21, the opportunity to perform on stage in plays that have something to say about the world and its future. For more information about Youth Onstage! or the YO! Community Performance School or to get involved, contact YO! artistic director, Dan Friedman by email or by phone at 212 356-8450.