Menu
‘The Wolves’ to open Thursday at DePauw
DePauw Theatre continues its season this week with the critically-acclaimed play “The Wolves,” written by Sarah DeLappe.
Productions run from Thursday, Nov. 21 to Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m. each evening. The run will conclude with a matinée at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24. The play will be staged at Moore Theatre in the Green Center for the Performing Arts.
From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, a girls’ indoor soccer team warms up, navigates big questions and wages battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. The play serves as a portrait of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals.
Tackling this production is a massive undertaking. The stage has been turned into a large soccer field, complete with more than 1,000 square feet of turf.
The costume shop had to create an entire team’s worth of uniforms, practice gear and wraps.
And the actors have been in training since September. Anyone who has been in the Green Center during the previous months will have undoubtedly seen the team jogging through the building, kicking soccer balls throughout the Great Hall, or stretching and reciting their lines in the halls.
For a space that is dominated by music and theatre, it has been a notable change in the Green Center.
The actors come from a variety of athletic backgrounds. Some of the women have never participated in team sports while others spent their formative years dedicated to their sport.
Junior Amalia Crevanni played soccer all throughout her youth.
“Soccer has been a huge part of my life, from the time I was little until now,” Crevanni said. “Being a part of (“The Wolves”) brings back a lot of memories and it is a really cool experience getting to incorporate and transfer my soccer training from the turf to the stage. In jest, I always said growing up that I wanted to be a singing soccer player, but now, I guess it wasn’t so far-fetched after all.”
Director Gigi Jennewein was initially afraid to tackle this athletic-heavy production. She changed her mind after sitting in on a few of the DePauw women’s soccer team practices. What she saw struck her to her core and she knew she had to direct “The Wolves.”
“I became increasingly impressed and humbled by the degree of commitment, self-control, bravery and teamwork that I was witnessing,” Jennewein said. “Women athletes can break barriers. That arena encourages women to be unapologetically tough, direct, outspoken, confident, curious, vulnerable, passionate, committed and driven.”
This production is a testament to the spirit of team sports, athleticism and camaraderie. Anyone who has ever been a part of a team can connect with the trials and tribulations confronted by the women on stage.
Tickets can be purchased online at depauw.edu/arts or at the Green Center Box Office on Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m. or 90 minutes before each production.