LEWISTON – Called “a supercool entertainment” by New York Times critic Vincent Canby, Kenneth Lonergan’s comedy “This is Our Youth” comes to the Black Box Theater at Bates College at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 16 and 17, and at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18.

A caustic examination of three rich young New Yorkers flirting with life’s seamy side in the early Reagan years, “This Is Our Youth” received critical acclaim by New York’s New Group upon its premiere in 1996, and won a Drama Desk Award nomination for best new play.

Admission to the Bates production is $6 for general admission; $3 for senior citizens, non-Bates students and Bates faculty and staff. Seating is limited. Reservations may be made on the Internet at www.bates.edu/boxoffice, or by calling 207-786-6161.

The play deals with adult subject matter and contains strong language and smoking.

Andrew Haserlat, a senior double major in theater and biology from Ipswich, Mass., directs the production in completion of his thesis in theater. Haserlat also created the scenic design.

Set in 1982, Lonergan’s play covers two days in the lives of a small-time drug dealer, his kleptomaniac friend and a mixed-up prep school girl who find themselves at a critical threshold between adolescence and adulthood. Driven by both a joyous sense of freedom from responsibilities and their fear of the future, the three are forced to decide what really matters to them and how – or whether – to try to attain it.

For Haserlat, this quasi-realistic play offers a change from the professional musicals he has performed in during the past four summers in Massachusetts. In a way, he says, the piece also mirrors his situation as he finishes at Bates and finds himself facing a multitude of big choices. “I’m trying to make this decision – what am I going to do with my life?” he says. “This show is all about that.”

The players are Alex Barnett-Howell, a first-year student from Seattle; Molly Coogan, a senior from San Mateo, Calif.; and Stephen Lattanzi, a first-year student from Winchester, Mass.

Playwright Lonergan wrote and directed the well-received 2000 film “You Can Count On Me” featuring Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo. It was his first film as director. He also co-authored the story and screenplay for the hit movie “Analyze This.” Lonergan lives in New York.