Marshall’s School of Theatre and Dance’s production of “The Wolves” closed its curtain on Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center after two weeks of performances.
Running Feb. 14-17 and Feb. 21-24, “The Wolves” told the story of a high school girls’ soccer team who grew up playing together.
While the show appears to be about soccer, it reflects on themes of growing up as a girl and what it means to be a woman, said Leah Turley, assistant professor and director of the show.
“I call the show ‘a really messed up love letter to being a teenage girl,’” Turley said. “Going from 13-17, those are remarkably fundamental years for deciding who we will become.”
“When you look at a play like ‘The Wolves,’ you see women that you know,” she added. “You see women that you know who they’re going to be when they grow up.”
While the show’s meaning went beyond soccer, the sport was still an essential element to its plot, which Turley said was a “learning curve” for herself and much of the cast.
Sophomore Reilly McLain, a former soccer player, is no stranger to the game, though, landing her a role as an assistant director despite it being her first show as an actor at Marshall.
“I played soccer for 18 years, so getting to be able to do my first show here at Marshall as a play about soccer or a soccer team has been really exciting,” McLain said. “It really made me reminiscent on my time playing soccer.”
As assistant director, McLain taught her castmates how to kick, pass and perform tricks and drills with the ball.
Meanwhile, senior Amelya Bostic said the sport was new to her, as she grew up playing practically every other sport besides soccer.
“I played almost every sport I could growing up, and soccer was the only one that I’ve not played,” Bostic said. “I find it a little ironic – here I am so late in life – I thought sports was over, and now I’m playing soccer.”
Both Bostic and McLain agreed with Turley in the show having themes outside of the sport, with McLain listing bullying as one and Bostic listing reflecting on the high school self as another.
Bostic said the modernity of the show allowed its themes to translate to the audience.
“Even though it was written in 2016 and so many things have changed since then, it really doesn’t look that way,” Bostic said. “The script can be, like, kind of evolving.”
Turley said the contemporary show was purposely chosen to create a contrast with the Shakespearean focus last semester.
“We wanted to try to span the gambit of what theater can be,” Turley said. “So, we started with Shakespeare, we came in with this quick and dirty play about women, and then, we end with a fun little comedic romp.”
The latter of Turley’s remarks referred to The School of Theatre and Dance’s last production of the 2023-24 season, “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”
“Brighton Beach Memoirs” will run at 7:30 p.m. on April 10-13 in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.
