Echo Theater Company has not only scored a major coup in snagging the Los Angeles Premiere rights to Sarah DeLappe’s 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist The Wolves, the extraordinary production Echo has mounted of DeLappe’s Altmanesque eavesdropping on six Saturdays of teen-girl soccer warmups will surely be remembered as one of 2019’s best.

Regardless of whether DeLappe (a mere twenty-six when The Wolves made its 2016 off-Broadway debut) was actually inspired by Robert Altman’s pioneering use of overlapping dialog, The Wolves (like Altman classics MASH, Nashville, and Gosford Park) requires active concentration to discern who’s who and what’s what, but attention paid is attention that pays off as each teen Wolf (identified only by her team number) comes into focus.

 Team captain #25 (Connor Kelly-Eiding) takes her leadership role as seriously as you’d expect from a soccer coach’s daughter while showing more than a bit of interest in a “super-punk” new girl at school.

Foul-mouthed and cool, #7 (Katherine Cronyn) has a serious boyfriend and a half-Armenian sidekick (Donna Zadeh as #14) whose all-American mother prepares the most delicious orange slices for the team.

Sarcastic-tongued #13 (Jacqueline Besson) calls everyone “Dude” and would rather not be known as the one with the “hot mom,” while deep thinker #11 (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson) watches documentaries on Netflix, worries about genocide, and wonders if mass murder can be committed with the best of intentions.

Shy, soft-spoken #2 (Minzi) has a tendency towards underweight that may not be due to a speedy metabolism, goalie #00 (Makeda Declet) clams up and vomits before games, the result of either a nervous condition or social anxiety disorder, and sweet. sensitive #8 (Ellen Neary) dreams of going to Nationals because “Ohmygosh! Wow!” … it’s Miami!

And then there’s home-schooled new girl #46 (Caitlin Zambito), whose brilliance on the field belies her claims never to have played on a “football” team, indoor or outdoor.

The above tibits are gleaned from crisscrossing conversations on topics as diverse as Cambodia (a 90-year-old war criminal may at long last be going to prison) and China (they say there’s no Twitter there), periods (a few of the girls are in sync, one of them is only allowed to wear pads), terminal breast cancer (their ex coach’s mom’s has it), a scout’s impending visit (will he be coming from UCSB or Texas A&M?), and more.

Events do take place over the course of The Wolves’ month-and-a-half of winter warmups, most of them minor, some major, and one quite literally life-changing, enough of them put together to make up a six-part miniseries had playwright DeLappe chosen that route.

Instead, she sneaks them into everyday team talk, giving The Wolves an authenticity that a more traditional approach might lack, and when Soccer Mom (Alison Martin), the play’s sole adult character, shows up only minutes before the field fades to black, the emotional payoff of her unexpected arrival is gut-wrenching.

Add to this the fact that much of DeLappe’s dialog takes place simultaneously with warmup stretches executed (per the playwright’s instructions) “in perfect unison and with military precision,” and you’ve got a production unlike any you’ve seen before.

Alana Dietze merits highest marks for her masterful direction (and stretch choreography) of a superb, indefatigable, weak-link-free, teenage-appearing ensemble whose performances defy easy stereotyping every step (or kick) of the way, and though Martin has only a few minutes to monolog, they are minutes you will remember for a good long while.

Scenic designer Amanda Knehans gives us an indoor soccer field that appears to go on forever, Rose Malone lights it to vivid, dramatic perfection, Elena Flores’s team uniforms are as authentic as are the performances of the young women wearing them, and sound designer Jeff Gardner underscores the action with an electrifying rave-ready soundtrack.

Hollye Hudson is assistant director. Anna Klevit is production stage manager. The Wolves is produced by Chris Field and Rachael Zambias. Erin Henriquez and Michael Sturgis are associate producers.

 Whether the Wolves make it to this year’s nationals is anyone’s guess. There’s no doubt whatsoever that The Wolves’s Los Angeles Premiere achieves event status. It is truly in a league of its own.

The Echo Theater Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village.
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com

–Steven Stanley
March 16, 2019
Photos: Darrett Sanders

Tags: Echo Theater Company, Los Angeles Theater Review, Sarah DeLappe