The Wolves

"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." Full Review

"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

"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." Full Review

"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." Full Review

“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." Full Review

"'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." Full Review

"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." Full Review

"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." Full Review

"'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." Full Review

“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.” Full Review

"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." Full Review

"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." Full Review

"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." Full Review

"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." Full Review

"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." Full Review

“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?” Full Review