Introduction
Sarah DeLappe’s Pulitzer-winning debut play The Wolves is the story of growing, fitting into society, and the friendship of nine high school girls who are indoor soccer team members. The play premiered Off-Broadway at The Duke at 42nd Street in September 2016 and was evaluated as a new statement on forming young women’s identity. Throughout the play, girls oscillate between childlike innocence and sexuality, friendship, competition, gossip, and discussion of severe political topics.
Summary
The Wolves tells the story of growing up teenage girls through a sports perspective that’s unusual for pop culture. Every scene depicts the warmups before the Saturday game settings, and the only decoration is an indoor football field (Jacobs 00:03:17 – 00:11:37). The first scene starts with a lengthy discussion on war, genocide in Cambodia, and social media access in China (DeLappe 13). These ethical issues are interrupted by jokes and chatter about tampons’ benefits.
Overlapping dialogue demonstrates that every girl has her own narrative and specific character. Captain #25 is bossy and works to keep everyone in line, both physically and socially. Goalie #00 copes with intense anxiety, which causes her to vomit before every game (Neutze para. 4). Newcomer #46 struggles awkwardly and often unsuccessfully to fit into the team (Strange 249). Thus, each of the nine girls has a strong personality and character.
The injury forced # 7 to miss the season’s last games and gave way to the new #46 on the field. A conflict is brewing between the team players, the drama is escalated by the players’ internal emotional problems (Strange 250). The critical off-stage incident is the moment after the sudden death of #14 in a car accident (Rocamora para. 7). Before the last game, the mother of the deceased girl approached the girls and made a delirious speech about her daughter and the team’s cohesion (Henry 3). The poem ends with the Soccer Mom bringing in a bag of orange slices.
The Wolves Themes
The Wolves’ most apparent context reflects the essence of sexuality and bodily autonomy. As the story progresses, viewers watch the triumph of the female body and psyche when girls overcome inner fears, barriers, and contradictions. The play goes deep into the social and emotional issues that affect American girls today (McNulty para. 7). Preconceived and stereotyped opinions come from adults, peers, the media, and other sources.
DeLappe deliberately placed teenagers in a closed space where they do not experience extraneous pressure from parents, teachers, or boyfriends and can honestly share their thoughts. The main events of the girls’ lives take place outside the field, and the viewers learn about them only from conversations (Akbar para.8). This author’s technique allows viewers to see the world and events through the eyes of teenage girls without public pressure.
All dialogues occur in parallel with the physical activity of the team members. Movements, stretching, and jumping have their own dramatic meaning (Hayford 80). According to Solga, the physical exercises that actresses constantly perform on stage help overcome the simplistic discourse about girlhood that neoliberalism suggests (75). The girls are more complex in their physical form and emotional mobility than the post-feminist framework offers.
A less obvious but no less critical theme of the play is the ethical question of individuals’ reactions to the horrific events taking place in the world. DeLappe said in an interview that the idea for The Wolves came to her after she visited a contemporary art exhibition in New York in 2014 (Brooklyn College 00:00:25 – 00:01:40). She was impressed that people looked at the works of artists from the Middle East, who shared their painful experiences about war and humanitarian disasters and then nonchalantly drank beer in bars or chatted about daily minutiae.
The Wolves softly and without judgment, reflect on searching adolescents’ role in global events. The girls discuss severe political issues such as genocide and wars (Henry 4). In addition, #2 mentions that her church group knits scarves to raise money for children from Central America who are living in detention facilities in the U.S. The girls are puzzled by how they can influence the solution of global problems, and at the same time, they gossip and discuss the form of the other team players.
The Feminine word in contemporary dramaturgy
The Wolves are feminist art not only in content but also in its form. Women play all the roles, and the authors, directors, and producers are also women. Even in the 21st century, this is still a rare phenomenon for dramatic art (Webb 8). In 2018, none of the top 100 highest-grossing films were directed by women, and only 39% of the main characters were women (Goulds 7). The problem of gender imbalance is typical for contemporary cinematography and theater.
The Wolves is an example of the growing female representation in the theatre. However, the play has been criticized for its lack of attention to the issue of black girls (Ealey 235). The play filled a gap in the field of feminine dramaturgy and entered the top ten most-produced productions in 2019 (Tran 2). It breaks the stereotype of women’s inability to make friends, cope with crises, and overcome internal barriers.
Conclusion
The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe is a work that helps look at the process of growing teenage girls from their point of view. Through the prism of sports and non-linear dialogues, the author demonstrates the complexity of integrating into society and adult life, where each person is part of a group. As the heroines’ characters develop, they become more complex than the general notions of traditional feminism, where women compete with men in leadership and effectiveness.
Works Cited
Akbar, Arifa. “The Wolves review – Swaggering, Tender Tales of Women’s Football.” The Guardian, Web.
DeLappe, Sarah. The Wolves: A Play: Off-Broadway Edition. Abrams, 2018.
Ealey, Jordan. “School Girls, or, the African mean girls play.” Theatre Journal, vol. 72, no. 2, 2020, pp. 232-235.
“Fireside Chats: Sarah DeLappe ’17 M.F.A. “The Wolves” Playwright.” Youtube, uploaded by Brooklyn College, 2018, Web.
Goulds, Sharon. “Rewrite Her Story: How Film and Media Stereotypes Affect the Lives and Leadership Ambitions of Girls and Young Women.” Geena Davis Institute, 2019, pp. 1-40, Web.
Hayford, Michelle. Undergraduate Research in Theatre: A Guide for Students. Routledge, 2021.
Henry, Amina. “The Wolves by Sarah Delappe. Teacher Resource Guide.” Lincoln Center Theater, 2019, pp. 1-24, Web.
Mcnulty, Charles. “Review: In Echo Theater’s ‘The Wolves,’ Life Through the Lens of High School Girls Soccer.” Los Angeles Review, 2019, Web.
Neutze, Ben. “The Wolves Review.” Time Out, Web.
Rocamora, Carol. “The Wolves“, Theater Pizzazz, Web.
Solga, Kim. “Sport, Space, and Gender: Embodying Alternate Girlhoods with The Wolves.” Sports Plays. Routledge, 2021, pp, 70-84, Web.
Strange, Jared. “The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe.” Theatre Journal, vol. 73, no 2, 2021, pp. 249-25.
“The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe – EarthStone Theatre Company.” Youtube, uploaded by Jacobs, Lilli, 2020, Web.
Tran, Diep. “The Top 10* Most-Produced Plays of the 2019-20 Season.” American Theatre, vol. 18, 2019, pp. 1-4, Web.
Webb, Ella. “And All the Men Merely Players: Gender in the Classical Theater.” Masthead 2021, 2020-2021, pp. 1-10, Web.