Review: MR. WOLF at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

MR. WOLF simultaneously fascinated and repulsed me. This play from Rajiv Joseph, now in its Chicago premiere to kick off Steppenwolf’s 50th anniversary season, is gripping and terrifying. It centers on 15-year-old Theresa, who was kidnapped at the age of 3 by the titular Mr. Wolf. Now, by a miracle, Theresa has been safely returned home to her parents. And while Theresa is in good physical health, the play slowly unfolds a number of twists and turns that reveal just how much trauma the teenager has endured.

Joseph has written a taut and engaging play, and director K. Todd Freeman leads a master-class ensemble in Steppenwolf’s production. This is not a theater experience for the faint of heart. While I found myself caught up in the world of MR. WOLF, it’s also not a show I’d recommend for those looking to the theater as a place of respite or light-hearted escape right now (and I think it’s more than fair to want that out of the theater these days — I often do!) I was riveted by the play, but I was also profoundly disturbed and questioned if I really wanted to watch the material. 

While Theresa is rescued from her kidnapper at the top of the play, Mr. Wolf looms large throughout — both as a recurring figment of Theresa’s imagination and because he appears in a few key scenes. Luckily, Joseph doesn’t ask audiences to empathize with this repulsive man — though a monologue/pre-suicide note he delivers in one scene takes us inside his brain. Tim Hopper maintains his familiar calm demeanor as Mr. Wolf, but he’s also sufficiently creepy. Hopper also appears as a variety of other characters Theresa encounters, and she mistakes each for her kidnapper.
 

The play primarily focuses on plot over characters, but there’s certainly rich character work here, too. The material goes deep on human trauma — and as we learn more about what exactly Theresa experienced in her years with Mr. Wolf, the repercussions for the rest of her life become clear. She’s keenly booksmart — she’s fascinated by astronomy (notably Mr. Wolf’s chosen field — he’s a community college professor), and she has an expansive vocabulary. But she’s also been utterly brainwashed by her kidnapper. Theresa constantly repeats that her life is specific to her and that she’s a prophet — clearly catchphrases that Mr. Wolf has thrust upon her. Because Mr. Wolf is the only person she’s ever met, she’s also utterly without social graces and doesn’t understand empathy. 

Emilie Maureen Hanson captures this energy beautifully. She delivers many of Theresa’s lines rapid-fire, showing us how fast her character’s brain works. And Hanson is brilliant at delivering Theresa’s lines unfeelingly — when the script calls for it — but endearing audiences to this clearly traumatized young woman.

Though Theresa’s mother Hana (Kate Arrington) is well aware of social mores, she willingly chooses to forgo many of them. Arrington is brilliantly caustic as Hana, particularly when telling her ex-husband’s new wife Julie (Caroline Neff) exactly how she feels. Arrington isn’t afraid to show Hana’s icy, mean side, but she also demonstrates the immense pain and relief she feels at reuniting with her daughter. Neff is a terrific foil to Hana; her Julie is warm, but grieving. Neff has a gentle and grounded energy, and it seems initially that Julie is the only one who has any idea how to communicate with the deeply traumatized Theresa. Namir Smallwood brings his signature calm command to Michael, Theresa’s father. At first, Michael is in such shock that he can’t even speak to Theresa. Smallwood conveys the range of Michael’s emotions touchingly.

MR. WOLF is a tough, tough play to watch — especially as it becomes clear that the trauma Theresa has experienced at the hands of Mr. Wolf is worse than Hana, Michael, and Julie originally thought. The play ends on a truly emotional, optimistic note, however. I can generally count on Smallwood to make me feel big feelings in the theater (aka shed tears). While I won’t share details, in the final scene, Smallwood and Hanson have a resonant and subtle exchange. That glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel is profoundly necessary. 

In the end, I took away some glimmers of hope and a really touching experience with the play’s finale and the tremendous work of this company, but the play involves a lot of anguish, trauma, and uncomfortable darkness.

MR. WOLF plays Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 North Halsted, through November 2, 2025. 

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