The Wolves: Director's Notes

It’s rare for a play to have so much to say that the conversations happen at the same time, although playwright Sarah DeLappe does not intend for audiences to catch everything. Instead, she has penned an orchestral opus, each voice lending a different sound—melody, harmony, dissonance—to the story. This is The Wolves.

The peal of adolescence rings from nine female soccer players traversing the pitfalls of growing up—friendship, betrayal, sexual awakening, mental health, identity, death... It is a time when topics easily flow from Disney World to genocide and tampons to immigration; a time when gravitas and lightheartedness go hand in hand. DeLappe has given us a meaningful and authentic portrait of what it is like to be a young woman. They are The Wolves.

DeLappe also gives us a chance to see how we come to develop our own voice. Historically, the voices of girls and women have been softened, subverted, or silenced. When and where does this begin? When we are children told to “shut up”? When we are teenagers told to respect adults even though they exhibit awful behavior? When we are career professionals told not to “make waves” or “be a bitch”? The systemic oppression that pushes women to stay quiet (and never walk alone) permeates within every industry, community, and school. But we have a voice. We have something to offer. This is the real gift from Sarah DeLappe—a reminder that we are all capable, strong individuals who can add our unique voice to the soundscape of the world. WE are THE WOLVES.