Theater kids can get a bad wrap for being too much and generally annoying. But speaking as a theater kid, a lot of that energy comes from an urgent desire to be known — not just seen but truly known.
Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton understand that yearning and channel that earnestness and openness into the teen drama Their Town. Pulling inspiration from Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, Duplass scripts a deceptively simple story about two high schoolers who connect one long night after play rehearsal. Aselton directs, weaving the story across a small Maine town, turning everyday locations into sacred spaces of sharing. And in the lead roles, this husband-and-wife team chose one established young actor, IT‘s Chosen Jacobs, and one newcomer, their daughter, Ora Duplass.
Together, they create a hangout movie that is patient, poignant, and powerful.
Their Town captures the frail and frightening freedom of youth.
Beginning at play rehearsal after school, Their Town swiftly establishes Abby (Duplass) and Matt (Jacobs) through their positions on stage. She is the lead, opposite her moody boyfriend Tyler (William Atticus Parker). But when he abruptly bails on the production, Abby looks to the wings for a possible substitute, and spots shy Matt (Jacobs). There’s just one problem; Matt signed up to do stage crew, not go on stage.
With some fussy encouragement from their drama teacher, Mr. Elliot (Jeffery Self, nailing the small town determination of such an artist), the pair decide to get to know each other after rehearsal to see how things shake out. The first stop is Abby’s house, where her mom and boyfriend are flabbergasted to see her arrive with Matt. A harsh mother-daughter squabble follows, propelling Abby to pull Matt anywhere else. That ends up being Matt’s big, empty house, where his dads (Daveed Diggs and Leonardo Nam) will check in on him via video call.
It’s an intense thing to see a classmate’s home for the first time. Both Matt and Abby are faced with a situation they didn’t expect, leading to some awkward conversations about preconceived notions but also humane laughs. From here, they will wander about their town from a beloved taco truck to a locked-up playground, reclaiming old haunts with fresh eyes.
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Watching them wander, eat, flirt, and fumble, I was riveted, in part because I could see a reflection of my own youth in their journey. After play rehearsal, hanging out with the theater kids was where I finally found community. There, my nights were rich with possibilities and the feeling of the infinite. I made friends there that decades later still know me and still shape me. Watching Their Town felt like time-traveling back to my own youth, my own hometown, sitting on a forgotten swing set in a dark night, where the only sound was our shared laughter.
Chosen Jacobs and Ora Duplass are magic together.
Don’t write off Ora Duplass as a nepo baby, lest you reveal yourself to be a fool. Though she only has a couple of shorts to her credit, it’s easy to see why her parents entrusted her with the role of Abby. Ora has a natural presence on camera. Like her mother, she shines when she smiles, and she crackles when in conflict. But it’s in scenes where Abby’s pose of confidence falters that this ingenue reveals her depths.
At 24, Jacobs has six years on 18-year-old Ora, and all of that (and more) working in movies and shows, including IT, Hawaii Five-O, Castle Rock, Darby and the Dead, and The Hunting Wives. Yet they prove perfect scene partners in Their Town. Their chemistry is natural and delicate. Abby and Matt don’t pop onto screen as an inevitable coupling, but rather as two strangers with an undeniable connection. Her default mode is cheerful, a butterfly eager to please. He’s more reserved, but not cold. For instance, when Abby chatters away in Spanish to the taco truck vendor, Jacobs’ eyes reflect curiosity and nervousness, wondering what’s being said and if it could be about him.
As the night goes on, the bond between them grows through conversations about their lives, loves, and struggles. Duplass’ script is too smart to fall into cliches. So even when discussing peer pressure to be perfect, anxiety, or suicidal ideation, there’s an aching specificity and nuance to the dialogue. Through these two incredible young actors, it doesn’t feel like a script, but like a real conversation, the kind shared across a dashboard on a starry night, or whispered across a phone line after bedtime.
Aselton’s cinematographer Sarah Whelden bolsters this sense of intimacy through a handheld camera that gently moves, reflecting the slow breath in and out of growing serenity — or, in other moments, panic. Deceptively simple framing gives her heroes space to breathe and test their boundaries. And in each moment, we are invited to be there with them. As the film finds its low point with some deeply high school theatrics, it’ll wind back to resolution that embraces the magic of being a theater kid on a stage. Here’s your chance to be seen. Will you take it? And moreover, will you give your partner that same gift?
In the end, Their Town is a sublime hangout movie that brilliantly captures those nights that felt infinite, those conversations that broke our brains for the better, and those relationships that molded our souls. Aselton, who’s previously helmed the racy sex romp The Freebie, the tense thriller Black Rock, and the zippy comedy Mack & Rita, completely changes gears here. Their Town is not mumblecore or a Linklater homage. It’s a thoughtful teen drama that rejects the urge to talk down to young people, instead embracing their complexity and confusion. There’s constant empathy for Abby and Matt, as the film follows them not doggedly, but in admiration for their bravery and growth in the face of so much possibility and fear.
Their Town is a quietly brilliant coming-of-age drama you absolutely shouldn’t miss.
Their Town was reviewed out of the 2026 SXSW Film Festival. It does not currently have a release date.
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