by Linda Chin

THE WOLVES – Written by Sarah DeLappe. Directed by A. Nora Long; Scenic Design by Shelley Barish; Costume Design by Amanda Mujica; Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Cast: Lydia Barnett-Mulligan, Sarah Elizabeth Bedard, Simone Black, Olivia Z. Cote, Chelsea Evered, Grace Experience, Laura Latreille, Julia Lennon, Valerie Terranova, Jarielle Whitney. Presented by Lyric Stage Company ay 40 Clarendon St., Boston through February 3

2017 Pulitzer finalist Sarah DeLappe titled her impressive debut play The Wolves after the story’s subject, a soccer team of sixteen and seventeen-year old young women. Nine actors play the team members, identified to the audience and each other during the five weeks the action takes place by their jersey numbers. Not until the last scene do we hear a series of girls’ names, and connect that player #7 is Alex and #14 is Megan. Out of earshot of adults, the Wolves freely discuss a range of mature topics – abortion, pads vs. tampons, eating disorders, Mexican children locked in cages, and various adult figures – parents, coaches, and Cambodian genocide leader Pol Pot with a familiar vernacular (#11: “but it’s like he’s old”; #25: “he murdered thousands of people”). Not until close to the end of the play does the tenth and only adult cast member (Soccer mom) appear, and not surprisingly the group dynamic and flow of the conversation changes with her presence.

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