Cast, Creatives Set for THE WOLVES Premiere at Playwrights Realm

The Playwrights Realm, led by Founding Artistic Director Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Roberta Pereira, has announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere of Sarah DeLappe's THE WOLVES.

Directed by Lila Neugebauer and featuring a company of all female actors - Brenna Coates, Jenna Dioguardi, Samia Finnerty, Midori Francis, Lizzy Jutila Sarah Mezzanotte, Tedra Millan, Lauren Patten, and Susannah Perkins ­- DeLappe's award-winning debut play will be presented at The Realm's new home for the season, The Duke on 42nd Street, August 29-September 24, 2016.

Left quad. Right quad. Lunge. An all girls indoor soccer team warms up. From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. THE WOLVES is a portrait of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for nine American teens who just want to score some goals.

The creative team includes Laura Jellinek (set design), Lap Chi Chu (lighting design), Ásta Bennie Hostetter (costume design) with sound design by Beth Lake & Stowe Nelson.

Performances of THE WOLVES will run August 29-September 24. Tickets are $40 and will go on sale Tuesday, August 2. Please check playwrightsrealm.org for more details. Critics are welcome as of Wednesday September 7 for an official opening on Sunday September 11.

THE WOLVES was a shared recipient of the First Annual Relentless Award, presented in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman, and the largest cash prize awarded in American Theater. Despite working on commissions from the Sloan Foundation, Playwrights Horizons, Studio Theater in D.C. and participating in New Georges Audrey residency, THE WOLVES marks DeLappe's Off-Broadway debut and first professional production.

DeLappe began writing THE WOLVES in the summer of 2014 after attending the New Museum's exhibition "Here & Elsewhere" and being struck by the great distance between the ordinary daily experience of suburban young Americans and their counterparts in other countries - most of the artists featured were from the Middle East, including Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. THE WOLVES captures these young women attempting to digest their ideas of world history, while in the same breath, coming to terms with the reality of their changing adolescent bodies. DeLappe's razor sharp rendering of female adolescence challenges the tired, media peddled stereotypes.

About the play DeLappe says,"These women are warriors. Each scene is a warm-up for a soccer game: they're a troop preparing for battle."

Over the past decade, The Playwrights Realm has continually produced work by brave new voices and worked to introduce new initiatives to expand its commitment to providing holistic support to playwrights as they strive to make a life in the arts. Delappe is The Realm's 2016-17 Page One Resident Playwright, a corner stone of The Realm's services, for which one playwright receives a $10,000 stipend, health insurance, internal readings, travel and professional development funds, theater tickets, and a fully stocked desk in The Realm's offices. The approach is designed to allow a playwright the physical and mental time, space, and resources to take a meaningful step forward in their career.

THE WOLVES is produced in association with New York Stage and Film. Playwrights Horizons Theater School produced a workshop of THE WOLVES in 2015 in association with Clubbed Thumb, where the play had been developed previously.

Casting by Telsey + Company, William Cantler, CSA & Karyn Casl, CSA.

About the Artists:

Creative Team

Sarah DeLappe's play THE WOLVES (Clubbed Thumb/Playwrights Horizons Theater School) was a recipient of the American Playwriting Foundation's inaugural Relentless Award. THE WOLVES was also a finalist for the 2016 Yale Drama Prize and a finalist for the 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Sarah has been a resident artist at Sitka Fellows Program and SPACE on Ryder Farm. An alum of Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group, she is currently a member of Ars Nova Play Group and the New Georges Audrey Residency. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, the Studio Theater, and EST / Sloan Foundation. MFA: in progress at Brooklyn College. BA: Yale.

Lila Neugebauer, upcoming directing: Albee's The Sandbox, Fornes' Drowning, and Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro (as an evening), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Everybody and Annie Baker's The Antipodes (all at Signature Theatre). Recent directing: Kill Floor (Lincoln Center Theater), The Wayside Motor Inn (Drama Desk Nomination, Signature Theatre), Mike Bartlett's An Intervention (Williamstown), Amy Herzog's After The Revolution and 4000 Miles (Baltimore Center Stage), Zoe Kazan's Trudy and Max in Love and Eliza Clark's Future Thinking (South Coast Rep), Lucas Hnath's Red Speedo (Studio Theatre), Dan LeFranc's Troublemaker (Berkeley Rep), Partners and O Guru Guru Guru (2014, 2013 Humana Festivals), Annie Baker's The Aliens (San Francisco Playhouse, Studio Theatre), The Valley of Fear (Williamstown), and Associate Directing Karen O's Stop The Virgens (St. Ann's Warehouse, Sydney Opera House). As co-artistic director of The Mad Ones, Neugebauer conceives and directs ensemble-devised work, including Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War (Ars Nova, New Ohio Theatre) and The Essential Straight and Narrow (New Ohio Theatre). She is an alumna of the Drama League, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Ensemble Studio Theatre member, New Georges Affiliated Artist and a Princess Grace Award recipient.

Laura Jellinek (Set Design) Theater: Intervention (Williamstown); Trudy and Max... (Southcoast Rep); Marjorie Prime (Playwrights Horizons); The Nether (MCC, Lortel Nomination); Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova, Signature Center); Oklahoma! (Bard SummerScape); The Mad Ones, The Public, MTC, The Atlantic, The Debate Society, Juilliard, Williamstown, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse. Opera: Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Atlanta Opera, Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard. Obie for Sustained Excellence in Design. MFA: NYU.

Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Design), New York: Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Signature Theater, Second Stage. Regional: Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theater, The Shakespeare Theater (Washington DC). Awards: Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Angstrom Award for Career Achievement in Lighting Design, Ovation Award, and multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards. Teaching: Faculty at California Institute of the Arts.

Ásta Bennie Hostetter (Costume Design) New York: Men on Boats (Playwrights Horizons), Friend Art (Second Stage Uptown.), The Way West (Labyrinth Theater Co.), Smokefall (MCC), John(Signature), 10 out of 12, Generations (Soho Rep), You Got Older (HERE); Regional: Macbeth (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), The Mystery of Love and Sex (Signature Theatre), 4000 Miles and After The Revolution(Baltimore Center Stage); Pinkolandia (Two River Theater). Member: minor theater, Target Margin Theater, The Mad Ones.

Beth Lake (Sound Design) is freelance Sound Designer and theater practitioner based in New York City. She specializes in fostering new plays, and incorporating sound design early in the development phase. MFA: UC-Irvine; Member: United Scenic Artists, Local #829.

Stowe Nelson (Sound Design) Off-Broadway: Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova); Indian Summer (Playwrights Horizons); Iphigenia in Aulis (Classic Stage Company); The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, The Wayside Motor Inn (Signature Theatre); Samuel & Alasdair (The Mad Ones, Drama Desk Nom). Regional: The 39 Steps (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Buyer & Cellar (Westport Country Playhouse); Macbeth, Measure for Measure, An Iliad (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival); Clarkston (Dallas Theatre Center). More info: www.wingspace.com/stowe

Cast

Brenna Coates (#7) graduated from NYU Tisch in 2015. She recently starred in the short film SHEBANG which premiered at the InsideOut Festival in Toronto, and played the role of Pat in the Family Channel film ICE GIRLS earlier this year. Coates is thrilled to be making her Off-Broadway debut.

Jenna Dioguardi (#13) was The Manager of the girls varsity soccer team at her high school. Theater: THE WOLVES (NYSAF, Clubbed Thumb/PHTS), Jen Silverman's That Poor Girl...(NYU), Political Subversities (ThePIT). TV: Billy on the Street. Storytelling: KGB Bar. BFA: NYU.

Samia Finnerty (#14) has been performing in New York for the past five years. She originated the part of Sylvie in Katie Cappielo's SLUT which premiered at the Fringe Festival and toured nationally. As a singer/songwriter, Samia has played at various venues including Joe's Pub, The Cutting Room, and Webster Hall.

Midori Francis (#8) Connected at 59E59 Theatres, Peter and The Starcatcher at Virginia Stage, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Syracuse Stage, The Two Gentlemen of Verona at Shakespeare's Globe, THE WOLVES at New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse. Workshops of Usual Girls, at The Ford Studio Signature Theatre and Ensemble Studio Theatre (Bloodworks Reading Series.) Television: Younger. BFA in acting from Rutgers, MGSA.

Lizzy Jutila (#00) In 2015 she graduated from The Hartt School, University of Hartford with a B.F.A in Actor Training. Other credits include: Seven Fragments (2016 NYC FRIGID FESTIVAL) A Christmas Carol (Hartford Stage Company) Commercial/Webseries: Treadin' Water (Swedish Fish). She is thrilled to be a part of the pack!

Sarah Mezzanotte (#2) made her debut in the world premiere of Ruby Rae Spiegel's Dry Land (HERE), after graduating from NYU Tisch. Sarah is currently a Series Regular on Amazon's new series The Interestings. Previous credits include: Recurring on Royal Pains, guest starring on Law and Order, and pilots Truth Slash Fiction and Search Party.

Tedra Millan (#46) is proud to howl with this extraordinary collection of women. She recently understudied Rose in The Flick (Barrow Street Theatre) and played Lady Anne in Ducdame Ensemble's Dames of Thrones (International Shakespeare Center). BFA: University of Michigan. MA: The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. www.tedramillan.com

Lauren Patten (#25) Broadway: Fun Home. Off-Broadway: Training Wisteria. Selected Regional: Home Street Home (Z Space); Spring Awakening (Deaf West); Our Town, Bus Stop, The Diary of Anne Frank (Rubicon); Wait Until Dark (Geffen); A Christmas Carol (Goodman). Film/TV: The Big Sick, Switched at Birth, Awkward, Arrested Development.

Susannah Perkins (#11) Off-Broadway debut. Recent stage credits include Every Angel Is Brutal (Clubbed Thumb), Sisters On The Ground (Playwrights Horizons Theatre School), and All's Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare In The Square).

About The Duke on 42nd Street

The Duke on 42nd Street is an intimate black-box performance space in the heart of the theater district, which is available for rental to both nonprofit and commercial organizations. Featuring a gallery along all four walls and a custom, state-of-the-art seating system. The Duke on 42nd Street is a fully-staffed facility that offers full light, sound, and support systems in various configurations. Some performing arts companies have called The Duke on 42nd Street their home, including Primary Stages, Transport Group, Theatre for a New Audience and Lincoln Center Theater LCT3, while other acclaimed companies have performed on its stage, including The Royal Court Theatre, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Armitage Gone! Dance, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Naked Angels, Classical Theater of Harlem and the National Theater of Great Britian.

About The Playwrights Realm

The Playwrights Realm is devoted to supporting early career playwrights along the journey of playwriting, helping them to hone their craft, fully realize their vision and build meaningful artistic careers. To serve this mission, The Playwrights Realmprovides comprehensive support to playwrights through its Page One Residency,Alumni Playwrights Program, Writing Fellows Residency, and, of course, productions. Previous productions by The Realm include Mfoniso Udofia's Sojourners, Anna Ziegler's A Delicate Ship, Anton Dudley's City Of, Elizabeth Irwin's My Mañana Comes, Lauren Yee's The Hatmaker's Wife, Ethan Lipton's Red-Handed Otter, Jen Silverman's Crane Story, Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco's Dramatis Personae, Christopher Wall's Dreams of the Washer King, Anna Ziegler's Dov and Ali, and Anton Dudley's Substitution.