The WOLVES Is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist '16 by Playwright Sarah DeLappe

"The Wolves" by playwright Sarah DeLappe (b Amer. 1990) at the Raven Performing Arts Theater had its off-Broadway debut in '16.  It was a finalist for both the Blackburn and Pulitzer Prize.  It's a deceptively clever social commentary on garnering social awareness seen through the maturation of a  female club soccer team.  The 1 Act all female cast shifts from weekly soccer matches that go from fall past MLK weekend.  The team consists of a motley mix of high school girls who share a love of soccer, banter and a dawning awareness of global atrocities.  The team is called the Wolves, not Wolverines implying the fierceness amongst these competitors are forming a wolf-pack through barbs, bullying and burgeoning camaraderie.  The overlapping, loquacious dialogue broaches a variety of heady int'l topics such as genocide by the Khmer Rouge and the inhumane caging of juveniles crossing illegally in the US.  The gravitas & empathy expressed by these young women is impressive albeit their bickering & bitching with each other does degenerate into hostilities but bounces back with youthful exuberance.  The new girl on the team is an odd misfit.  She demonstrates budding talent, an impervious carapace to insults, and an ingratiating affability.  Still, she's prone to unwittingly making inappropriate outbursts.  The seating is on-stage with raked rows putting the audience in the stands as unobtrusive fans.  A few alpha-females clash for top dog but backdown when the team's leader barks orders. Their unseen coach is a useless creep who comes to their games hungover.  The pre-game warm-up stretching bends the groups into a cohesive unit. A tragedy strikes that solidifies the teammates into a grief-stricken pack.   DeLappe's dialogue scores with coming-of-age dynamics but is deemed incredulous by the new girl's naivety.  She must have been living under a rock or somewhere in a yurt. Needless, there is an inherent likability to the girls' feistiness & growing attachments.  The sagacious team leader tells the gifted newcomer "Things don't get easier, you just get better."  "The Wolves" is an entertaining, voyeuristic romp with young cubs broaching adulthood.