Change of Date and Venue for Actors Bridge Ensemble's Production of Sarah DeLappe's THE WOLVES

Performance dates and a change in venue are in order for the Actors Bridge Ensemble's production of The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe. Originally scheduled to open this Friday night at Belmont's Black Box Theatre, the Nashville premiere of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play about a girls' indoor soccer team will now run November 30-December 2 and December 6-8 at the Darkhorse Theater, 4610 Charlotte Avenue, according to ABE artistic director Vali Forrister.

"It's exciting to be presenting the Nashville premiere of such an innovative new play," Forrister says. "I spend a lot of time with teenage girls through our Act Like a GRRRL program. The Wolves' dialogue, both the cadence and the content is spot-on as the girls navigate the terrain of adolescence, balancing self-identity and team loyalty."

Directed by First Night Award winner Jaclynn Jutting, the cast includes Lucy Buchanan, Riley Walker, Hayley Pellis, Penelope Gerosa, Sammi Gainer, Tea Sherrill, Rachel Mackall, Anna Jenkins, Emily Peterson, and CJ Tucker.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, it can't be performed at Belmont as originally planned," Forrister said. "But, I'm really committed to the play and the cast, so I worked out an arrangement to move it to the Darkhorse and Samuel French granted permission to change dates and venue."

The Wolves was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and, according to American Theatre Magazine is among the "Top Ten Most Produced Plays of 2018-19." DeLappe's first play, The Wolves won the American Playwriting Foundation Relentless Award.

Darkhorse Theater is being transformed into an indoor soccer arena complete with astroturf. The cast has their own soccer coach, Brent Maddox, who is helping them prepare for the physical demands of the play.

According to The New York Times: "The scary, exhilarating brightness of raw adolescence emanates from every scene of The Wolves."

The Story: The Wolves follows a girls' indoor soccer team as they warm-up for a series of games. Over quad stretches and squats, the young women prepare to defend the Wolves' undefeated record, their banter spilling from tampons to genocide to the pressures of preparing for their adult lives. A portrait of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals.

Performance Schedule: ABE's production of Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves, directed by Jaclynn Jutting, will run Friday, November 30 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, December 1 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, December 2 at 4 p.m.; Thursday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, December 7 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, December 8 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Students with a valid ID can purchase tickets for $15. For tickets, go to www.actors-bridge-wolves.eventbrite.com.

About the playwright: Sarah DeLappe's play The Wolves premiered Off Broadway at The Playwrights Realm, following an engagement at New York Stage and Film, and development at Clubbed Thumb and the Great Plains Theatre Conference. The Wolves received the American Playwriting Foundation's inaugural Relentless Award and was a finalist for the 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Yale Drama Series Prize. DeLappe is the Page One Playwright for The Playwright's Realm and was a resident artist at the Sitka Fellows Program and SPACE on Ryder Farm. An alumna of Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group and New Georges Audrey Residency, she is currently a member of the Ars Nova Play Group and a Resident Playwright at LCT3. Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theater, Studio Theatre, Two River Theater Company, EST/Sloan, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. DeLappe received her MFA in Playwriting from Brooklyn College.

About Actors Bridge Ensemble: For 23 years, Actors Bridge has been telling stories Nashville needs to witness as we produce socially conscious plays, create new work, train theater artists, and expand what counts as theater in our community. We are locally born and bred with a deep commitment to reflecting our city back to herself. We offer a home for emerging artists to develop their voice and for established artists to take new risks. We have produced over 90 plays, including 14 world premieres and 60 Nashville premieres. We are in residence at Belmont University and at our studio at the Darkhorse Chapel. Actors Bridge is the home of Act Like a GRRRL. The company is led by co-founder Vali Forrister. For more information, go to www.actorsbridge.org.

ABE's 2018-19 season will continue March 22-31, 2019, with another Nashville premiere: Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Citizen, adapted for the stage by Stephen Sachs, which will be directed by Jon Royal at the Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel.

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