After taking a two-year hiatus from live performances, Mount St. Mary’s Mount Theatre returned to Horning Theater with a Fall Mainstage production of Sarah DeLappe’s play “The Wolves”. The play opened to an impressive audience on Fri. Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. and ran through Sat. Nov. 20.
Originally premiering as an off-Broadway show in New York City, “The Wolves” went on to become a 2017 Pulitzer Price finalist in Drama. The play follows everyday interactions that occur between a group of high school juniors and seniors on an indoor girls’ soccer team over the course of six weeks. It illustrates how meaning can come from some of the simplest conversations a person shares with another in life.
Associate Professor of Theatre, Dr. Kurt Blaugher explained that one of the most captivating elements of the “The Wolves” is how it never reaches any sort of climax and just relies on the conversations between the young women to move the story along.
It opens with a warm-up sequence that features a mundane conversation between the girls as they discuss their families and upcoming national soccer championship. However, as the play progresses the simple conversation between teammates grows into something bigger as they are forced to talk about difficult and relevant topics related to growing up.
Blaugher stated that the conversations between the teammates are important because a lot of what is discussed are things the audience may have dealt with or will deal with at some point in their lives. He hopes students can reflect upon these big issues and discover ways to process those issues when they are faced with them.
Auditions for “The Wolves” took place early September in the Horning Theater, Delaplaine Fine Arts Center and brought a wide range of talent. Throughout rehearsal, the cast and crew were required to follow pandemic protocols on and off-stage.
Admission to Mount Theatre’s Fall Mainstage production was made free for all students and staff to celebrate their return to live performances. The audience was required to follow the Mount’s mask mandate and wear a mask through the entire performance.
For many members of the cast, this play also marks their first time performing on the Mainstage in Horning Theater. Since the shutdown in 2020, Mount Theatre produced a great deal of plays using a combination of live and taped performances on Zoom Webinars. They were able to produce a live Senior Project by following university mask and social distancing guidelines.
The Mount Theatre’s Fall Mainstage production featured a powerful all-female cast of undergraduate students. Being a part of over 50 Mainstage productions, Blaugher noted that “The Wolves” is the first production in his time at the Mount to have a cast that consists of only women and believes this accomplishment to be long overdue. Following the theme of having a female centered story, the Mount Theatre hopes to put on another for the Spring’s Mainstage production if the ongoing pandemic allows them to have one.
Comments