LAFPI

The Echo Theater Company opens its 2019 season with theLos Angeles premiere of The Wolves, the debut play by “playwright to watch” Sarah DeLappe that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Alana Dietze (Dry Land) directs.

From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, these 16- and 17-year-olds navigate big questions and wage tiny battles with the ferociousness of a pack of adolescent warriors. There’s super-cool #7, the striker (Katherine Cronyn); skinny, kind #2 (Minzi) and childlike #8 (Ellen Neary), both on defense; three midfielders: brainy #11 (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson), stoner girl #13 (Jacqueline Besson) and #7’s insecure sidekick, #14 (Donna Zadeh). Goalie #00 (Makeda Declet) is an anxious perfectionist, and the awkward new girl, #46 (Caitlin Zambito), is just trying to fit in. Team captain, #25 (Connor Kelly-Eiding), does her best to keep the girls focused on the game, and Soccer Mom (Alison Martin) provides the orange slices.

The Wolves is DeLappe’s first produced play. It premiered in 2016 at off-Broadway’s The Duke at 42nd Street as a Playwrights Realm production in association with New York Stage & Film and Vassar’s Powerhouse Theatre, where it enjoyed a sold-out run and transferred to Lincoln Center the following year. It was a co-winner of the American Playwriting Foundation’s inaugural Relentless Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Yale Drama Series Prize. The Pulitzer committee describes it as “a timely play about a girls’ high school soccer team that illuminates with the unmistakable ping of reality the way young selves are formed when innate character clashes with external challenges.” In his New York Times “Critic’s Pick” review, theater critic Ben Brantley calls it “A thrilling debut play… theater that keeps you on the edge of your seat.”

The Wolves opens on Saturday, March 16, with performances continuing on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. Three preview performances are set for Wednesday, March 13; Thursday, March 14; and Friday, March 15, all at 8 p.m.

Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. On-site parking is free. For reservations and information, call (310) 307-3753 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.

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