Performances run January 27 – February 5, 2023.
The Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company MFA Programs in Acting and Directing present Wolf Play by Hansol Jung, directed by Carol Ann Tan. This production runs from January 27 through February 5, 2023 at the Pell Chafee Performance Center on 87 Empire St. in Providence. General admission is $15 with discounted prices for seniors and students. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at Trinity Rep's ticket office, by phone at (401) 351-4242, or online at trinityrep.com/wolfplay.
Wolves are social animals and Jeenu is no exception. A Korean boy who may or may not be a wolf, Jeenu is adopted by an American family before being suddenly "rehomed" to another couple. But when his original adoptive father decides he wants the boy back upon learning his new parents are queer, Jeenu finds himself caught in the middle of a custody battle, two strained marriages, and a pro boxer's debut. Amidst the chaos, Jeenu is determined to find his true pack. Sharp, messy, and at times bleakly humorous, Wolf Play explores how family - chosen or not - forms and falls apart.
"I first read this play in 2017 and I haven't stopped thinking about it since," director Carol Ann Tan said. "It's a deeply personal story filled with impossible oppositions: controlled puppetry and raw physicality, societal expectations and individual limitations, wild ferocity and tender affection. In America's increasingly individualistic culture, this play is asking-how do we define and find family? And what lengths might we go to in order to protect our idea of home?"
Carol Ann Tan ("Cat") is a Singapore-born director, playwright, and dramaturg currently based in Providence, RI. Her aesthetic is contemporary absurdism-strings of internet memes writ large. Her work explodes the play's dramaturgical heart into shocking irreverence, and asks her collaborators to offer up their wholehearted shamelessness in exchange for the gift of finally being seen. Directing credits include Amphitryon (Theater at Monmouth), Two Mile Hollow, Golf Girl (Brown University), Constellations, Much Ado About Nothing, A View From the Bridge (Brown/Trinity Rep), Warrior Class (The Comrades), Domestic Departure (Haven Theatre), Apartment Complex, Domestic Departure (University of Chicago), as well as staged readings of Peking Apples (Echo Theater), Bakkhai (Brown/Trinity Rep), The Mark (Babes With Blades), Mine & Yours (Artemisia Theatre), Dialogue and Rebuttal (Silk Road Rising), Natural Shocks (The Comrades), and Fresh Out the Closet (Asian Improv aRts Midwest). Cat has assisted John Gawlik on Doubt (The Gift Theatre), Dexter Bullard on Mies Julie (Victory Gardens), and Elly Green on You for Me for You (Sideshow Theatre). As a writer, Cat's plays include Trump Card, Apartment Complex, and Domestic Departure. Cat's plays have been performed at Haven Theatre, Other Theatre, Brown/Trinity Rep, North Central College, and the University of Chicago. Domestic Departure was awarded second place for the Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize. As a dramaturg, Cat's credits include Vietgone (Writers Theatre), Christmas Mubarak, Wild Boar, American Griot (Silk Road Rising), At the Vanishing Point (The Gift Theatre), The Audience, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (TimeLine Theatre), Mike Pence Sex Dream, Two Mile Hollow, peerless (First Floor Theater), A Heap See (Sideshow Theatre), Hello Kitty Must Die (SoloChicago Theatre), and In the Wake (The Comrades). Cat is an artistic associate with Silk Road Rising, a 2017/18 Directors Inclusion Initiate at Victory Gardens, and an MFA Directing candidate at Brown/Trinity Rep.
Tan will work alongside Riw Rakkulchon, (set designer), Johanna Pan (costume designer), Nic Vincent (lighting designer), Caroline Eng (sound designer), and Nic Lehane (puppet designer). The cast of this production includes Brown/Trinity Rep students Ross Barron (Peter), Myka Cue (Wolf), and Sophie Zmorrod (Robin) with guest artists Victor Neto (Ryan) and Jordan Palmer (Ash).
The Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs provide a three-year professional training program under the auspices of an Ivy League university and Rhode Island's Tony Award-winning theater company. Brown University's Department of Theater and Performance Studies is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation for a new generation of theater artists.
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