The Wolves

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production “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.” Full Review

for a previous production "'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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "'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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review

for a previous production "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." Full Review