By Sue Suchyta
From the Front Row
Southgate Community Players presents Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves” Oct. 18 to 24 through a story that focuses on an indoor soccer team of competitive teenage girls as they navigate the transition to adulthood in an increasingly complex world.
Directed by Josie Stec, the cast, by jersey number, includes teammates Casey Dutcher, 00; Emily Hunt, 2; Stephanie Mustonen, 7; Brooklyn McBride, 8; Isabella Kroczaleski, 11; Aryanna Armstrong, 13; Maiya Martinez, 14; Aliahna Mesahn, 25; and Kaitlyn Cross, 46, with Megan Homan as the soccer mom.
Stec said the play may be the favorite she’s read to date.
“The formatting and style with which Sarah DeLappe chose to write ‘The Wolves’ leads to one of the most realistic interpretations of group dynamics that can be performed on the stage,” she said. “Add in the girlhood factor, the comedy, and the tragedy of being a young woman, and why wouldn’t I want to direct this show?”
Stec said the blocking is more like choreography, with endlessly overlapping conversations.
“I honestly had no idea how it was going to all come together, and then my cast got to work and proved every single rehearsal how much they understood this material and how committed they were to performing it at an insanely high caliber,” she said. “It’s truly been a dream from blocking through tech.”
Stec said watching the young women develop their characters and making them entirely real people has been a process of pure joy.
“I’ve seen them run this show a dozen times and I still find new, fun character moments in every run,” she said. “Take a chance on a 90-minute one act that is like nothing you’ve experienced in a theater lately.”
Cross said the dialogue is mesmerizing and captures the essence of girls trying to fit in with each other.
“This character is so different from myself, I’ve had to do some digging and self-exploration that have made me a stronger actress,” she said. “I’ve had to learn how to play soccer!”
Cross said she loved becoming a team with her fellow cast members.
“By becoming the Wolves all together, we have made a truly special experience that has brought out amazing characters from each of us on stage,” she said. “I’m hoping that the audience leaves with a chance to see themselves or somebody they’ve known before with new understanding.”
Cross said each team member deals with challenges to which audience members can relate.
“These girls all go through such different things that you can identify with one or all of them,” she said. “Leaving with the thought ‘It’s not just me!’ is the goal.”
Meg Homan, who plays a soccer mom, said each scene happens during a warm-up, as the girls prepare for their game while figuring out their lives, relationships and the world.
“The performers have made the girls into such real, layered, and complete people, and I can’t believe how talented they all are,” she said. “I’ve also never read a script like this before, and the way the author laid the words out on the page shows exactly how all of the conversations overlap and weave in and out, and the effortless naturalism of the language has to be seen to be believed.”
Homan, who plays an emotional and powerful two-minute cameo, said her biggest challenge is developing her emotional relationship with girls she’s watched grow up with her daughter.
“We love our children so much that when they feel pain we wish we could take on every bit of it ourselves to save them from hurting, but that’s just not how reality is,” she said. “Showing a soccer mom’s all-consuming love for her child and getting the audience to feel that love along with her is my greatest challenge.”
Homan said she hopes audience members see themselves in the characters.
“I hope they think of their younger selves with fondness and compassion, and remember how it felt to be a young person who was in the middle of growing up and figuring out who they wanted to be,” she said.
Martinez said playwright Sarah DeLappe’s dialogue is incredible.
“‘The Wolves’ is a fast-paced drama where the seemingly ordinary conversations connect to much bigger pictures,” she said. “It overall leaves you amazed at how everything comes together.”
Martinez said she’s been out of high school for a while, so getting back into a teen headspace has been interesting.
“Embracing all those ‘cringe’ moments was definitely a challenge,” she said.
Martinez said she has enjoyed the camaraderie of the cast during rehearsals as well.
“The women in this cast are amazing, and as we’ve developed our characters and their relationships, we’ve built the same connection within our cast,” she said. “It feels like a close-knit team onstage and off, even though we’ve only known each other for a few months.”
Martinez said she hopes audiences walk away with a greater appreciation for the complexity of teenagers, particularly teenage girls.
“There are complex themes and conversations that shape them,” she said. “One of the things I find so brilliant about DeLappe’s writing is how each girl is her own person, while the audience is also watching them through the lens of their group dynamic.”
Mustonen said the play has so many layered conversations that some people might want to see it more than once.
“This is one of the most unique shows I’ve ever seen: It’s chaotic, but cathartic, it’s devastating, but hilarious, and it fills you with intense feelings and then hollows you out,” she said. “You might cry, you’ll probably laugh, and you’ll definitely be entertained.”
Having never played soccer in her life, Mustonen said her greatest challenge is acting and playing soccer at the same time.
“It’s tough,” she said. “I’m thinking about my lines and my character all while kicking a soccer ball around a circle in what I’ve learned is called a ‘spiderweb.’”
Mustonen said being in an all-woman show is a treat.
“There aren’t really main characters or supporting characters, we are all just one team,” she said. “To be surrounded by women who are all working on an equal playing field is a unique world to be in and it is a blast – I wish more plays were like this.”
Mustonen hopes audience members will recognize people from their past among the Wolves teammates.
“I want audiences to say, ‘Oh, I was just like #11 when I was younger,’ or ‘I remember the #25 from my school,’” she said. “I hope the audience feels a sense of familiarity with the characters even though they’ve only spent less than 90 minutes with them.”
Showtimes for “The Wolves” is 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16, 17, 23 and 24, with a 2:30 p.m. Oct. 18 matinee, at the SCP Corner Playhouse, 12671 Dix-Toledo Road in Southgate.
Tickets are $20 for general admission, and $18 for seniors and students. To order online, go to scponstage.ludus.com.
Please note that the show contains adult language and mature themes, and may not be suitable for pre-teens.