{"id":723697,"date":"2025-11-22T01:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T22:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=723697"},"modified":"2025-11-22T01:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T22:01:10","slug":"in-gruesome-playground-injuries-kara-young-and-nicholas-braun-set-aside-their-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=723697","title":{"rendered":"In Gruesome Playground Injuries, Kara Young and Nicholas Braun Set Aside Their Differences"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Arts<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In Gruesome Playground Injuries<\/em>, Kara Young and Nicholas Braun Set Aside Their Differences<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
By <\/span>Juan A. Ram\u00edrez<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

November 21, 2025<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Kara Young and Nicholas Braun star in Rajiv Joseph\u2019s Gruesome Playground Injuries<\/em>, running at New York\u2019s Lucille Lortel Theatre through December 28.<\/span>Photo: Julia Khoroshilov<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Just about two years ago, Nicholas Braun was at the Lucille Lortel Theater, watching fellow television stars Christopher Abbott and Aubrey Plaza shine in a revival of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea<\/em>. He\u2019d never booked a professional stage gig, but the idea of doing an intimate two-hander at the historic West Village space appealed to him\u2014a feeling that only grew stronger as productions like Cole Escola\u2019s Oh, Mary!<\/em>, Hold On to Me Darling<\/em> with Adam Driver, and Andrew Scott\u2019s one-man Vanya<\/em> kept up the prestige.<\/p>\n

The Succession<\/em> star told Seaview Production\u2019s Greg Nobile of his dream, and soon the script for Rajiv Joseph\u2019s 2009 play Gruesome Playground Injuries<\/em> was in his hands. Then word trickled in that two-time Tony winner Kara Young was interested in starring opposite him. Braun hadn\u2019t gotten the chance to see her work onstage, but he knew this would be huge. Suddenly, what in March of this year looked like a spring 2026 possibility became a November reality.<\/p>\n

A week ago, I found Braun and Young cozied up in his dressing room. It\u2019s reachable through the theater\u2019s auditorium, but he took the scenic route there, through a small back alley. With just over an hour before that evening\u2019s preview performance, the two were already spent from the early sunset and a day\u2019s worth of ironing out the production\u2019s kinks. Once they got talking about the intricacies of the play, however, their spirits were up again.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Photo: Julia Khoroshilov<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Young was drawn to the time-jumps in Joseph\u2019s story, which follows two friends from the age of eight to 38, with each scene moving either 15 years forward or 10 years back. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the great exercises for an actor,\u201d she said, adding that she was excited to fill in the linear blanks left by the script. As the title suggests, the friends don\u2019t have the easiest go of it; what starts as an innocent schoolyard accident for Doug leads to a life of hurt, both for him and Kayleen. No matter how time and circumstance pull them apart, they have a strange, strong bond rooted in an understanding of each other\u2019s pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been discussing the humanity that is brought forward, in regards to the human connection with the people who might love us the most, or at least once in our lives,\u201d Young added. \u201cDoes that love ever go away? Have we missed opportunities with people? It makes me think about the friendships that I treasured once that, due to time and work and life, there\u2019s not a consistency around what it means to reach out and tap in. I feel like this is a reminder to reach out to the people you love the most, no matter what happened between you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here, the two chat with Vogue<\/em> about the show.<\/p>\n

Vogue<\/em>: These characters are so symbiotic. How do you work on your character individually, knowing that, in a way, it only exists as an extension of the other one?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kara Young:<\/strong> Rajiv laid out specifics about each character. It\u2019s very clear to me that they come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, and that paints a picture of what their lives might look like moving forward. When we meet Kayleen at the age of 23, she mentions what her occupation is, and Doug has been living a completely different life, almost free of worry. Rajiv has given us so much on the page, the littlest details that open up each of their worlds. As we got to the fourth preview, I started to realize the severity of these humans\u2019 brokenness in their own ways.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Braun:<\/strong> There are clues in the writing as to, what does she need? What does he<\/em> need? And then it\u2019s working backwards and going, I\u2019m going to try and give that to her in this scene.<\/em> If she\u2019s in a bad relationship and feels all alone and overworked, then I\u2019m coming in to give her that love. They\u2019re the thing each other needs the most, so let\u2019s go towards that. They fill in all the gaps for each other.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

The characters, as kids, are so recognizable. Who were each of you on the playground?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Young:<\/strong> I always felt like I was a fairy, just sitting and observing people. Like, what can I get? Can I get you some water?<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Photo: Julia Khoroshilov<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Were you helping the kids that were<\/em> getting bruises?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Young:<\/strong> Oh, absolutely. I was trained to be a conflict mediator when I was in the third or fourth grade. Tell me what happened. This is how it\u2019s going to work: I\u2019ll choose whoever goes first, and then you tell me from your perspective\u2026<\/em> all that. But I was friends with everybody, too. I was friends with the popular kids or whatever, but also the kids people made fun of. I just loved everybody.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Braun:<\/strong> I did not know that existed.<\/p>\n

Young:<\/strong> I went to a really hippie elementary school, though.<\/p>\n

Braun:<\/strong> I was not mediating, no. I got injured pretty frequently. I had an incident when I was in second grade where I was riding on the front of a mini bulldozer, and there was another kid my age driving it, whose dad worked at this landscaping company. I was sitting on it and he brought the bulldozer bucket onto my feet and crushed both of them. That put me in a wheelchair for a couple months.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s this idea in the play of being brave versus being stupid. Has that been fun to explore?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Braun:<\/strong> That has not been explored, but we will now explore it! My character\u2019s not a heady person; he\u2019s an instinctual person who just goes towards things. That\u2019s what I like about playing him: He doesn\u2019t wonder whether he should do something, he just does it and takes the repercussions afterwards. That doesn\u2019t make him stupid, but I think the kid who\u2019s willing to throw himself at everything\u2014seemingly the idiot or class clown\u2014just likes to try and feel some pain or get attention.<\/p>\n

Young:<\/strong> That\u2019s a thing I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve talked about yet: getting attention. I think it\u2019s a theme in the play, in a huge way. There is a very human flaw of feeling pity on ourselves.<\/p>\n

This production comes at a time when I feel like everyone I know, myself included, is wilin\u2019 out in some way and going towards something. Do you feel that? Is that hard to leave at the theater?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Braun:<\/strong> There\u2019s a lot of distance between people right now. I think, generally, it\u2019s hard to be social. I don\u2019t know, maybe it\u2019s age. She and I\u2014the characters, but also me and Kara\u2014are so hyper-connected and interested in each other and in telling each other things. There\u2019s so much connection in this play\u2014I don\u2019t know where you can find [that] out there in the world today. Hopefully when people come, they see these two people really locked in in a way that feels rare. I mean, I don\u2019t know if I have a relationship that\u2019s as deep as this one that these two go through.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

We\u2019re still trying to figure out exactly how we want people to feel at the end of this. We\u2019re wondering, Is that our job?<\/em> But it does feel like this play is happening at a particular time where there are a lot of inhumane things happening, and in a way that hasn\u2019t happened in a long time. We\u2019re getting desensitized to it. So I think coming, spending an hour and a half with two people that are completely humane towards each other, maybe there\u2019s a shock in that, or something really satisfying.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Photo: Julia Khoroshilov<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Young:<\/strong> I challenge us to feel. I challenge us to remember what love is like, to remember our best friends from childhood. The way that we started the conversation was that these humans met in a time when they connected in this kind of way. Whether it is a toxic friendship or not, they lose touch in time, and we\u2019re losing touch with love. We\u2019re losing touch with the reason why we are here on this earth together. I mean, we don\u2019t exist without each other.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Braun:<\/strong> We\u2019re not thinking about people within the context of their life. Maybe this person is in this situation because of what happened to them when they were a kid, or how their life has gone for the past 20 years. It\u2019s just, Well, that\u2019s who they are and they need to change.<\/em> People are just getting smaller and smaller, getting shrunk down to things, put in a box. With the play, it\u2019s about putting a magnifying glass on two people. We\u2019re not doing that too much outside. That\u2019s why I think it feels good to do right now. I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve experienced this range of emotions or connection or anything in my life.<\/p>\n

Kara, have you been taking Nick under your experienced stage wing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Braun:<\/strong> I\u2019m a student of Kara Young.<\/p>\n

Young:<\/strong> No, no, don\u2019t say that. We\u2019ve been learning so much from each other. He\u2019s an incredibly dynamic actor. I mean, we look very different\u2014not just a white man and a Black woman, but we\u2019re different sizes\u2014and I don\u2019t feel that. People are like, Oh my God, you\u2019re so tall, you\u2019re so short<\/em>. In some way it makes us very similar, because the world is always commenting on that. I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m challenged by our differences in this experience, which is really special.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Photo: Julia Khoroshilov<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

You guys do everything within view. How\u2019s it been applying your own makeup and changing outfits onstage?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Braun:<\/strong> I love it. I think it\u2019s so fun. What\u2019s cool about the play, amongst a lot of other things, is that you don\u2019t often get to see the backstage work. I\u2019m pulling off wounds, I\u2019m reapplying them, et cetera. It\u2019s really fun for me to learn how to do makeup and do it blind, because we\u2019re not looking at mirrors. It\u2019s a fun challenge, and she and I do things for each other throughout the play to help get ready for the next scene.<\/p>\n

What do you think that adds to the story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Braun:<\/strong> It\u2019s maybe a little bit about the body and how it can get broken down over life. I think it\u2019s fascinating when I go from 18 to 33. I\u2019m in teenage clothes, then putting on clothes that are for a heavier guy. Life hits him in those 15 years. These things are artificial, they\u2019re just things you put on yourself, but we\u2019ve loaded them up with history and feeling. Here\u2019s what happens when you have a scar, or wear a certain jacket. I don\u2019t know exactly what the metaphor is, but I know how it makes me feel.<\/p>\n

Young:<\/strong> I know exactly what you\u2019re saying. It\u2019s just history. It\u2019s history applied in real time.<\/p>\n

This conversation has been edited and condensed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Source URL: http:\/\/vogue.com\/article\/kara-young-nicholas-braun-gruesome-playground-injuries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arts In Gruesome Playground Injuries, Kara Young and Nicholas Braun Set Aside Their Differences By Juan A. Ram\u00edrez November 21, 2025 Kara Young and Nicholas Braun star in Rajiv Joseph\u2019s Gruesome Playground Injuries, running at New York\u2019s Lucille Lortel Theatre through December 28.Photo: Julia Khoroshilov Just about two years ago, Nicholas Braun was at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":723698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-723697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-vogue-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=723697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/723698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=723697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=723697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=723697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}