Theatre Kids

"A wry and boisterous account... Electric prose elevates this homage to an enduring art form."
— Publishers Weekly

"For those of us lucky to call John DeVore a friend, the skill and warmth with which he's written Theatre Kids comes as no surprise. If you should not be in the elect group, however, the next best thing would be to read this book. There's something funny, moving, surprising, or trenchant on every page. Often there's all of these at once. Theatre Kids is a lemon tart made by someone who loves you, sweet and light and sharp and substantial all at once."
— Isaac Butler, author of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act

"John DeVore is a master storyteller, and Theatre Kids is a delightful and moving read. Its a valentine to the New York City theatre scene in the late '90s and early aughts, told through the eyes of one of the many young people who have for generations come from hamlets, small towns, and sprawling suburbs hoping to make their mark in the glittering city. DeVore will keep you laughing, gasping, and sometimes cringing all the way to the last page."
— Catherine Burns, former artistic director of The Moth

"Like all beautiful memoirs, John DeVore's Theatre Kids will tell you not just about the author, but about things and places and people dead and gone. DeVore brings them alive again. How glad youll be to meet them, and him. This is a funny, sad, loving, and mournful look at what artistic strivers and dreamers put themselves and others through on the quest for greatness—or, perhaps, just plain old survival."
— Sara Benincasa, author of Real Artists Have Day Jobs (And Other Awesome Things They Dont Teach You in School)

"Theatre Kids is a rickety roller coaster ride into the hearts of New York City's downtown theatricals - that rare breed that can turn a moldering black box and a couple of folding chairs into a diorama of the divine."
— Mike Errico, author of Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter

This moving memoir recounts DeVore's life-changing experience having a bit part in a tiny, four-hour production adaptation of William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying" as he struggled with addiction and grief. The cast and crew were scrappy but passionate as they tried to bring their vision to life in a windowless theater in Brooklyn in post-9/11 New York.
— NY Post