The Wolves NYC Reviews and Tickets

"Some of the most exciting and affecting ensemble work on a New York stage...One of the greatest achievements is that it doesn’t allow for so-called breakout performances. It’s not that DeLappe’s characters are absorbed into a bloblike collective...But she and Neugebauer have created a remarkably level playing field for a team of disparate personalities who give fresh credence to the idea that onstage, in union there is strength."
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"'The Wolves' asks us to listen more carefully, and to pay attention. As the team members differentiate themselves from the pack, the play teases out larger questions hidden amid its keen naturalism...DeLappe takes all of them seriously. Her hopeful, respectful play is an implicit reproach to those who worry or complain about kids today. Seeing 'The Wolves' for a second time, I picked up on a number of things I had missed the first time. The soccer here is smart as hell."
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"A crack team of outstanding young actresses...Neugebauer’s touch is both delicate and decisive. She doesn’t dress plays up or weight them down with excess conceptual baggage...As a piece of writing, it’s undeniably strong, and also noticeably crafted—but there’s also something about its arc that feels too neatly calibrated to be truly astonishing...The nine young women who prowl the practice pitch in 'The Wolves' take a good play and go a long way towards making it a great one."
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"A dizzying whirl of attitude, anxiety and adolescent hormonal volatility practically pings off the walls...The subtlety of the craftsmanship, the assurance of tone and the thematic incisiveness are remarkable, astonishingly so for a first work...DeLappe has a knack for making her artfulness appear almost accidental. Her dialogue has the unwritten sound of real conversation...This is one of the most striking playwriting debuts in recent memory, and absolutely not to be missed."
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"'The Wolves’ most impressive feat is its subtlety: DeLappe’s script is empty in all the right places, as the audience pieces together aspects of the characters’ lives from clues given...This is also a testament to both Neugebauer’s direction and the cast’s innate understanding of their characters...A play that takes teenage girls seriously, never leaning into easy parody, but instead elevating their struggles and successes into an unforgettable, deeply moving work of drama."
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"Smart, nimble and told through an intriguing out-of-the-box approach, the play is a gripping slice of fly-on-the-stadium-wall realism...There’s more crosstalk and interruptions than a 'Real Housewives' reunion. And, yeah, that’s exactly how people talk in groups...The play is skillfully directed by Lila Neugebauer and deftly acted by a tightknit ensemble of 10...Add me to the pack of admirers for this terrific play."
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"An amazing debut play...Neugebauer directs and choreographs the play with mesmerizing syncopation...The text is so real that it's almost as if DeLappe transcribed real conversations between teenage girls; the performances are so authentic that it almost feels like we're eavesdropping on these ritualistic moments of young adulthood. For this engagement, Neugebauer and her excellent company have managed to clarify the material even further...One of the best plays of the decade."
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“An exceptional ensemble…The work of director Lila Neugebauer achieves a remarkable naturalism, even while the actors are choreographed into set routines and speaking their overlapping lines while allowing for the more important points to surface above the clamor. As DeLappe's debut piece, ‘The Wolves’ introduces a playwright with a fine ear for authentic dialogue who can cleverly structure a play non-traditionally.”
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"Thrilling...Wonderfully acted by a tight-knit ensemble, 'The Wolves' is about the things we miss when we fail to pay attention beyond the random (albeit entertaining) chit-chat and gossip of young women...Commendations all around for this original play that captures so well the secret world and voices of these high school girls. Director Lila Neugebauer has done a splendid job of building an authentic team out of her young performers."
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"Over the course of a taut ninety minutes, we watch them instead warming up in an endless series of calisthenics, dazzlingly directed by Lila Neugebauer...You give in to this play’s unique and relentless rhythm – consisting of endless motion and overlapping dialogue...What DeLappe leaves us with is a searing insight into what it means to grow up and face both the unpredictable and inevitable events in life...'The Wolves' doesn’t break our hearts. Rather, it fortifies them."
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“DeLappe weaves us a journey into which we are all pulled. Neugebauer has directed with a choreographer’s eye and and a philosopher’s heart. The actors each commit fully to one another and to the larger story they are creating...By the time we realize where we have landed, these women have a grip on our hearts that we had not foreseen...These are Wolves of hope and innocence, determination and vulnerability, bravery and passion."
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"The conversation is wildly realistic. The play opens with a blizzard-fast round of overlapping discussions...This is dazzling writing, played to perfection by an exceptional acting company and directed with great precision by Neugebauer. And DeLappe goes on from there. She assaults the air with dialogue as fast paced as a quick-pass exercise...Quite astoundingly, the author creates a stage filled with fully-rounded characters without even giving them names; just numbers."
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"Stellar performances...Neugebauer takes DeLappe’s script to deliver one of the most arresting first scenes of a play in memory...Youth-affirming to the extreme...Neugebauer orchestrates the initial rapid-fire outbursts of conversation so that we pick up only snatches of words...The beauty of DeLappe’s writing is her ability to pinpoint that very moment in life when a number of 17-year-olds learn that life is unconscionably unfair but they’ll survive."
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“I’m not sure what to call this. ‘Play’ seems inappropriate; slice of life theater? Like French films, one has a sense of history before and after our observation. The piece has no arc, which may put some of you to sleep. Several minor occurrences, one major event, and some inexplicable behavior occur along an unseen timeline...Often everyone talks at once...Actors are skilled. Everyone’s limber. Timing is precise. Dialogue is authentic. But why?”
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"DeLappe’s play is a brilliantly written, performed, and directed entrée into a world of how teenage girls really speak to each other, and relate to one another when what they share is a collective identity, a team identity, a sporting identity—and how those identities intersect with friendship, ambition, and rivalry...It feels as if we come to know—through DeLappe’s writing and the uniformly excellent performances—all the players if not well, then believably enough."
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"A terrific ensemble cast...As the teammates warm up, words fly in an onslaught of random snippets, the discussions running from trivial to practical...More troubling concerns take the play into deeper waters. As do the considerable losses, losses that go well beyond the soccer field or pageant stage. Watching these young women deal with the harsh realities thrown at them, gives significant depth to a play that might otherwise seem superficial."
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"Sarah DeLappe’s extremely skillful debut...DeLappe's exquisitely orchestrated cross talk and overlapping banter, dense with profanity and jokes, is quite musical...The characters are drawn quickly but precisely and are acted by a dynamic young ensemble...Their fraught, heightened lives are revealed in blurry glimpses, as the restless, roving narrative darts across a curving swath of AstroTurf as green as youth."
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"Neugebauer has calibrated the volume and the emphasis so you’ll never be totally lost. But you’ll nevertheless be lost, in the most realistic and powerful way...The firecracker dialogue, even half garbled in the rush of it, has the unmistakable ping of reality. It is both hilarious and perfectly expressive of each character who speaks it...Girlhood, obviously, is the general subject, but not in any saccharine sense...With luck, this extraordinary new work will become a popular one, too."
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"An exhilarating play…Directed with naturalistic virtuosity by Lila Neugebauer…DeLappe’s brilliance is that she reveals her players as they gossip, taunt, comfort and conspire not as archetypes, but as young women on the cusp of becoming their own self-defined characters, with the possibility to change, challenge and grow…In this heady rush of adolescent energy, ideas and emotion, the ensemble work is astonishing."
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"DeLappe's dialogue adeptly mines the profundity out of these trivial exchanges...Equally impressive is how DeLappe gets us well-acquainted with all nine of the girls on the team, played by a roster of excellent actresses...It's a picture of female camaraderie in its most authentic form...Most heartening of all is that DeLappe has created an ensemble of distinct female characters without leaning on romantic partners or traditional feminine tropes to define them."
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"In just a few highly economical pages of dialogue, DeLappe establishes her subjects as smart, sassy, and wised-up, yet also more than a little naïve about the wider world...The director, Lila Neugebauer, has a way with large casts and 'The Wolves' can easily be enjoyed for the seamless interaction of nine actresses...DeLappe renders the team members perceptively and with sympathy."
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"Pleasant, formulaic and ultimately not that involving...Ms. DeLappe has created a highly theatrical and very well structured work that lovingly captures the sense of contemporary adolescence...It’s all technically impressive but thematically routine. Fitfully entertaining, by its strategically dramatic conclusion there really isn’t much impact...Ms. Neugebauer’s superior staging is extremely visual and also achieves emotional intensity due to her excellent results obtained from the cast."
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"A hilarious and emotional portrait of teenage girls discovering who they are, on and off the soccer field…Neugebauer has expertly crafted the social cues and the natural pauses lending to the feeling that we’re really in the room with this team…Everything that comes out of their mouths feels real and unrehearsed…‘The Wolves’ is one of the strongest new plays I’ve seen Off Broadway in recent memory...DeLappe’s voice is strong, refreshing, and certainly one to watch."
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"Playwright Sarah DeLappe is surely enjoying the many incarnations of this play that she created through Playwrights Realm, featuring an ensemble of nine very talented young actors...I must give a shout out to Lizzy Jutila, the goalie, the quiet one, whose pent up emotions run wild in a display of physical explosiveness...Director Lila Neugebauer works magic with the cast and melds beautifully with Ms. DeLappe, making for a wonderful partnership."
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"The nine young women haven't been given names. But their distinct and credibly realized personalities are given keen dramatic shape by playwright Sarah Delappe in her slight but enjoyable play....To the playwright's credit is that each girl is sketched with both bold and subtle strokes that make them appear real...The quality of the acting is top-notch...The play courageously eschews a strong central character but it could gain substance with a more compelling dramatic device than what we get."
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"Sarah DeLappe, the playwright, delivers spectacularly on her debut production...This is where DeLappe’s genius is most apparent: in the details and the differences...It’s captivating watching the teens argue, fight, tease, and commune together, wanting to be a uniformed force, but also striving for personal identity, individualization, acceptance, and accomplishment...The team and the play are the true winners here."
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"The playwright has a terrific ear not just for the rhythms of adolescent girls’ speech, but for the way they dart between conversations...The tight structure of the play sneaks up on you. Its constant undercurrents turn out to convey essential nuggets of information that bring real emotional payoffs...Director Lila Neugebauer gives the piece its strong physicality...Neugebauer also gets uniformly strong work out of the ensemble."
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"The production both shows off the playwright’s terrific ear for the way her adolescent characters speak, and respects her attempt to capture the texture of everyday life in a community of young women...DeLappe could have done more to make the audience feel better acquainted with her characters...If 'The Wolves' requires an unusual degree of attentiveness, it offers something in exchange...the work of DeLappe, a promising new voice in the theater."
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“With the audience seated in bleachers on wooden folding chairs on either side of a wide expanse of AstroTurf, you definitely get the feel of being a fly on the wall listening in to the casual conversation of garrulous teenagers. DeLappe's great strength is in capturing with remarkable accuracy the expressions, rhythms, and inflections of teenage girls, as well as their preoccupations with the trivialities of menstruation, boys, and other essentials of immediate post-pubescence.”
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"Compelling and insightful...The playwright has a great ear for the way girls talk to each other...There are a couple of places where situations feel a little forced...Anyone hankering for a fully plotted play with a clearly delineated conflict and resolution may be disappointed by the unwavering attention on the girls' interactions. But the consistently strong cast under Lila Neugebauer’s sharply focused direction does a splendid job of opening the door on the world of these teenage girls."
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"We observe how each player attempts to navigate the difficult shoals between girlhood and womanhood, moving between personal concerns and the world at large...The cast is outstanding, individually and collectively. The ensemble work in their drills is amazing. Director Lila Neugebauer certainly knows how to manage a lot people onstage at once...Although I found the final part of the play a bit manipulative, my overall impression was highly favorable. I look forward to DeLappe’s future work."
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"The author tells a fully realized story over the course of a taut ninety minutes, skillfully dropping information here and there so that her audience can gradually put things together and realize what has purposely not been spelled out in capital letters...Neugebauer does a scalpel-precise job with her young Wolves; DeLappe has a lot going on in the world of her play, and Neugebauer guides our attention so we catch it all...Make sure not to miss it this month."
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"'The Wolves' goes beyond a play about the difficulties of teen-hood. It's the nuances that set it apart. Heartbreak and resiliency play integral parts in the later stages of the plot...Director Lila Neugebauer's vivacious staging is vigorous yet uniform. With a regimented choreography of stretching and drills, reality took control. Neugebauer matched each beat to a movement naturally...'The Wolves' returned for a reason. It's a phenomenal production."
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"I'm so crazy about 'The Wolves,' the new non-gender titled play written by the gifted young playwright Sarah DeLappe...Although there's the usual bickering and casual one-upmanship that's common in any group, there's very little of the bitchiness that so many fictional works seem to believe define female relationships. Plus, the acting is all-out terrific...The dialog, the direction and the performances work together to make each a distinctive and recognizable individual."
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"'The Wolves' does something completely unexpected: it shows us teenage girls without cliché...There are no types here. There are just people. Which is why it's such a raging disappointment that a tragic event comes from nowhere at the end. It felt like a betrayal...The shift at the end turns it into a different play. It's heavy-handed and not necessary. But it doesn't discount the wonder that DeLappe has created in the beginning."
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"In Sarah DeLappe's smart, delightful play, a high school team is the vehicle for exploring much bigger things…DeLappe's dialogue is hilarious and idiosyncratic, moving swiftly from gross-out humor to pain. The choreography lends the scenes a beautiful rhythm, and the cast endows their characters with both lightness and depth…'The Wolves' is thrilling: for its confidence and generosity—and for its feminism. DeLappe offers us ninety minutes in a smart, sympathetic, female world."
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"Directed with admirable precision by Lila Neugebauer…’The Wolves’ paints a startlingly realistic portrayal of the social status of teenagers…Rather than condescend, 'The Wolves' presents the darker aspects of its characters’ lives without any commentary or judgment…'The Wolves' moves evenly at a swift pace and never lags…This impressive play by DeLappe inspires a sense of optimism about more works like this in the future."
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"A searing examination of nine young girls coming of age and figuring out the persons they’re going to become...DeLappe’s rich play about the experience of being a privileged American teenager delves into everyday interactions to question how and why these girls respond the way they do...The ladies in 'The Wolves' are fierce and nuanced, bringing to life three-dimensional characters that are messy and fun and real...It is simultaneously hilarious, insightful and heartbreaking."
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"Courageous, laugh-out-loud funny and oh-my-mascara-is-all-over my face touching…A hilarious and fast-paced show…No subject is left untouched. The audience is kept on the edges of their seats while watching words and emotions volley between the players. The girls are played phenomenally, with nary a weak link on the team…These young powerhouse actresses do justice to the strong script."
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"A beautiful mix of 'war movie' and dance theatre…The best testament of the play’s powerful storytelling and universal appeal was the mixed audience, complete with older men alternately snorting laughter and wiping away tears. But it was all about the girls, and - perhaps most telling - a group of them were giggling in the front row."
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