By Sarah DeLappe
We are always the same age inside.
- Gertrude Stein
CONTENT WARNINGS:
flickering lights, discussion of death, discussion of sexual violence and abortion, depiction of binge eating, use of an ableist slur
Cast
#00: Ali Barlow
#2: Erin Devine
#7: Josie Maier
#8: Sofía Freedman
#11: Madison Borman
#13: Amanda Przygonska
#14: Emi Fernandez
#25: Sophia Tufariello
#46: Sofía Abarca
Soccer Mom: Vex Hutton
Production Team
Director: Sarah Claire Swiderski
Assistant Director: Campbell Loeffler
Stage Manager: Rachel Goldberg
Assistant Stage Managers: Daniel Bell, Ethan Hill
Production Manager: Jake Stohr
Dramaturg: Valeria Pacheco
Technical Director: Paris Bates
Assistant Technical Director: John Cai
Head of Set: Guin Jones
Head of Sound: Mara Adams
Lighting Designer: Lonnie Reid
Lighting Operator: Paloma Juarez
Props: Maggie Whittemore
Heads of Costume: Leah Strickland, Farida Salam
House Manager: Allison Chen
Intimacy Director: Willa Barnett
Run Crew: Leah Strickland
Master Electrician: Lonnie Reid
Production Photographer: Erin Laurens
Letter from the Director
The Wolves was published in 2016, one year after the United States women’s national soccer team (USWNT) won their third world cup title. It was only in February 2022, however, that the USWNT achieved equal pay to their male counterparts, who to this day have never won a world title. This brings me to my central examinations: competition and coming of age in a world that refuses to take women seriously. Teenage girls, especially, are often defined by their shortcomings rather than by their complexity. The Wolves faces this notion head on, and each character presents a nuanced portrait of girlhood as they navigate suburban adolescent entanglement. In City Sports Dome, we examine nine teenage girls uninterrupted by brothers, fathers, or boyfriends. They discuss the world beyond Plexiglass with naivety and ignorance, but also with intelligence and wit. They are children teetering on the lip of adulthood and soldiers gearing up for battle.
I’m immensely grateful for this show’s cast and crew, who approached the subject matter with thoughtfulness and sensitivity. To everyone who entrusted me with this show: thank you.
To our audience: I hope that this story resonates with you as much as it did with me. In the words of Sarah DeLappe: welcome to a planet of teenage girls.
-Sarah Claire Swiderski, Director
Letter from the Dramaturg
The Wolves features nine feral and ferocious teenage girls trapped in a world of Plexiglass, Astroturf, and fluorescent lighting as they work towards soccer nationals. The team progresses through weeks of intense practice while discussing anything from periods to genocide. Although they are far from the perfect sports family, often bickering and snapping at one another, The Wolves are able to pull together for game day.
At many points while reading this script, the cast awkwardly laughed or uncomfortably jerked back at lines. Are we really supposed to say this? In short, yes: Teenage girls can be very insensitive. The privileged suburban players don’t hold back in discussing genocides, abortions, and deportations–subjects that the characters had little to no experience with. Several times, characters speak before thinking in what the playwright, Sarah DeLappe, described as the disconnect that inspired her play: “There is such a huge distance between where we were and what we were taking in.” But the girls also begin to grow warm and empathetic as they try their best in a world that they are just beginning to truly understand. The Wolves holds the power of transporting us all back to our sweaty, adolescent days and reflect on how far we still have to go in exploring the world outside the Plexiglass.
-Valeria Pacheco, Dramaturg
Dooley's Players 2022-2023 Executive Board
Artistic Director: Willa Barnett
Production Manager: Jake Stohr
Treasurer: Sonia Karkare
Secretary: Anjali Borschel
Publicity Coordinator: Julia Green
Special Projects Coordinator: Celine Cao
Outreach Coordinator: Kailey Albus
Mentorship Coordinator: Paris Bates
Mediation Officer: Sydney Webb
CONTENT WARNINGS: DETAILED
Mentions of Abortion
If you would like to leave or tune out, please do so at the line “... try not to make jokes like that.” and again after “...there’s a hole in the air dome?”
Use of an Ableist Slur
If you would like to leave or tune out, please do so at the line “... jesus (into the Lord of the Rings theme tune” and a second time after “... she’s American my dad’s Armenian…”
Depiction of an Eating Disorder
If you would like to leave or tune out, please do so at the line “... the tufted titmouse is still there.”
Discussion of Sexual Violence
If you would like to leave or tune out, please do so at the line “... like what’s the big deal there are so many other things to know about.”
Discussion of Death
The final scene focuses very heavily on death and mourning. If you would like to leave or tune out, please do so at the line “ Hey! I was just texting you.” Please note this is the beginning of this scene and these themes play out until the end of the show.