Run With THE WOLVES at Spotlighters in Baltimore for One More Weekend

Historic Spotlighters Theatre on St. Paul Street in downtown Baltimore has been a bastion of performance for more than 60 years, and shows no signs of relinquishing its position in the community of community theater. Its current production, THE WOLVES, written by Sarah DeLappe, is an edgy, unconventional show that garnered a great deal of critical acclaim during its 2016 off-Broadway premier season, and was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. 

Last weekend was meant to have been the final weekend of the run, but since the opening  of the show was canceled due to illness, Spotlighters is keeping the show onstage an additional weekend. You’re not too late to see this fascinating, well-written glimpse of young females dealing with impending adulthood. 

The show is set inside an indoor soccer arena, in a series of pre-game sequences. Though the show has a setting of ‘soccer,’ it’s not really about soccer, in the way that August Wilson’s RADIO GOLF is not about golf. It’s presented in an untraditional way, in medias res, with characters being named only by their numbers, and the audience must work a little to catch up with the conversation, which ranges from the mundane and crude to globally conscious. Don’t be intimidated by the idea that you don’t know enough about soccer to make sense of the show. The ‘action’ is the development of relationships between the girls, and the girls’ relationship with their world. The setting of ‘soccer’ is simply a framework for that. Once the audience moves past some puzzling casting choices, the show scoots briskly through each sequence and we start to see what’s going on with whom, and how their interaction reflects the world at large.

Director Lanoree Blake delivers realistic interactions, complete with overlapping conversations, awkward pauses and people overhearing things they weren’t meant to. The timing of the various interactions renders every conversation crystal clear, both audibly and dramatically. Blake makes some casting choices that I find intriguing, and is clearly making a statement about expectations and preconceptions. The group movements and close interactions make the most of the in-the-round staging of Spotlighters.

Playwright Sarah DeLappe has a real gift for the cadence and content of teen conversation. The script of THE WOLVES is tightly crafted with casual asides being tossed around like one-liners, only to prove critical to the plot. The structure of the show may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s far from conventional and therefore, in my opinion, interesting and entertaining.

Benni Rose playing #11 helps with exposition by way of inquisitiveness and gossip.Gabe Duque as #7 brings angry energy to a queen-bee role. Louisa Davis, in the role of #13, is quirky and very funny. I love her timing. Sarah Ford, playing  #25, Team Captain, is bossy but understated, and  her own character journey has a satisfying resolution. Zoe Prue is exquisite in a heartwrenching part playing #2, whose assortment of woes finally add up in a dialogue-free sequence. Jess McGowan as #8 is absolutely fearless with the over-the-top teen drama. Blake Martin playing #14 ultimately proves to be vulnerable after displaying a certain ‘mean girl’ energy. Sydney Lee shines as #46. This role requires a certain innocence, and Lee is fascinating to watch as she progresses from outsider to key player. Adanya Koger-Hobson, playing #00, goalie, demonstrates quite convincingly a form of pre-performance anxiety, and despite having few spoken lines is an absolutely riveting presence onstage. Margaret Condon as Soccer Mom proves once again that Condon does not shy away from difficult roles. Her believability in her part is rather unsettling. 

Set designer Justin Nepomuceno renders a truly excellent rendition of an indoor soccer arena in the tiny staging space of Spotlighters. A beautiful trompe l'oeil goal stretches the space visually, as does the gleaming white and deep blue color blocks. Netting strung all around makes for a completely immersive environment. In fact, as we enter, I overhear a group discussing where to sit to avoid being hit by a ball.

If you’re looking for a conventional, cute, safe show, that will be fun for the whole family, keep looking. This is not that. If you’re interested in a realistic depiction of teen girls at a crucial moment in their development, here it is, authentically rendered, in a fascinating, unusual format, by performers who will make you question your assumptions, for one final weekend. 

Run Time:1 ½ Hours, without an intermission

THE WOLVES plays at Spotlighters for an additional weekend, July 26th, 27th and 28th, despite all the media listing its closing date as July 21st.

 Tickets, $20-$24, can be purchased online.

Photo, The Wolves, courtesy of Spotlighters Theatre

Final Factoid: A bicycle kick is a difficult move to pull off in soccer, and a well-done one is a delight to observe. 

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