Feature

Add Comment

Broadway’s New Teen Heroes

ShareThis

6. Brian Charles Johnson
Plays Otto, who may have had a wet dream about his mom.
Will be 22 on March 19. From Buffalo. Real mom’s an accountant; father’s an English teacher. Involved with the show for about a year and a half. Was at NYU when he went to an open audition—one of those “storybook” things. Lives with Skylar “and basically Lauren as well. Ha-ha.” Currently reading: “Yes, I’m lame and out of date, but The Da Vinci Code.” On his iPod: “Robbie Williams. He’s phenomenal.”

7. Remy Zaken
Plays Thea, in pigtails.
Age 17. With the show for a year. From Weston, Connecticut, but has had an apartment here since November, when she got mono and her parents decided the commute was too much. Likes needlepoint. Shops at Abercrombie Kids—“I can’t fit into adult jeans, because I’m so small.” Favorite movie: “Mean Girls!” Memorable parental clash: “My favorite Website is Facebook. I’m on it all the time. My mom once threatened to block the site and I cried. Sad, I know.”

8. Lilli Cooper
Plays Martha, who has a secret.
Age 16. With the show for a year. Father is Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper. Is a junior at LaGuardia high school. Likes trigonometry. Less fond of history. Most intense fan contact: “When people tell me they can connect to my character because they’ve gone through what she has [molestation].” On her iPod: “Old jazz, like Ella Fitzgerald. And then the Pussycat Dolls.”

9. Gideon Glick
Plays Ernst, whose awakening is of the gay variety.
Age 18. From Philly. Has been with the production for a year. “Deferred for a year from NYU.” Likes Six Feet Under. Shares an apartment with his brother. Does not like “cleaning up messes that do not belong to me.” On his fan base: “They’re always surprised because I make my voice higher [onstage] and they assume I’m like that.” On his iPod: “I just started listening to Regina Spektor a lot.”

10. Jonathan B. Wright
Plays Hanschen, who assists Ernst in that awakening.
Age 20. From Livonia, a suburb of Detroit. Has been with the show a year. Likes to eat at French Roast—“I don’t think I’d ever had French food before I came to New York.” Likes skateboarding even more. On his family’s watching his masturbation scene: “I think they were happy because I was in my sort of weirdo glory at that moment. They know that I’m a crazy person.” Preshow ritual: “Off Broadway, it was Red Bull. On Broadway, it’s chicken strips and black tea.” Currently reading: “Harold Bloom’s Invention of the Human.” On his iPod: “Singers where you can hear their souls when they open their mouths. Eva Cassidy is one of those.”

11. Phoebe Strole
Plays Anna, a good friend.
Age 24. With the show a year. From Fort Worth, Texas. Likes crosswords and living with her “equally messy” roommate. Thinks there’s still a lot of teenage repression in the world. Was most nervous about meeting Molly Shannon. Is a fan of Weather.com. Preshow ritual: “Wash my hair.” Favorite movie: “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” Food she misses most from home: “White gravy is the one thing you can’t find here, no matter where you go.” On her iPod: “Janis Joplin.”

Correction: The name of John Gallagher Jr.'s band Old Springs Pike was originally listed as Old Spring Pike; Jonathan B. Wright's hometown Livonia was originally listed as Lavonia. New York regrets the error.