Now entering its 8th year, Cape Rep’s Young Company (YoCo) provides free professional theater training to young actors grades 8 through 12 eager to learn the craft of acting through an intensive rehearsal and production process. All interested students are welcomed into this free annual program.

This year, YoCo is tackling the 1930s, an era rich in theatrical literature and expression where playwrights explored the social and political themes and impact of the Depression on American society. Dead End by Sidney Kingsley is set among a gang of street urchins living on the Lower East Side as wealth pushes into the tenement neighborhood and the poor struggle to survive; filled with fantastic characters, the play inspired a series of 89 movies that featured The Dead End Kids. Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets tackles similar ideas, set during the New York taxicab strike of 1934; it brings us into the lives of regular people struggling to live day to day as big business impacts their small lives. Both plays are filled with rich language, physicality, humor and wonderful acting challenges for these 35 young actors.

Friday, February 9 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, February 10 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm. Tickets are $10, $5 for students under 18, and go to supporting Cape Rep’s Young Company Initiative. Call the Box Office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.