Meadows and Dallas Theater Center Present The Wolves

Photos by Morgana Wilborn: Behind the scenes with The Wolves. Discount tickets available for students with SMU I.D.

The Tony-winning Dallas Theater Center (DTC) and the SMU Meadows Division of Theatre are presenting the hit play The Wolves, March 6 through April 14 at the Studio Theatre, an intimate black box space on the sixth floor of the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, 2400 Flora St. in Dallas. The play continues the close collaboration between the Division of Theatre and DTC, with a cast composed chiefly of Meadows theatre students and alumni.

Written by Sarah DeLappe, the play focuses on a competitive high school girls’ soccer team known as The Wolves. The elite squad of nine teenage female warriors meets every Saturday to stretch before their games, and high school gossip rapidly evolves into mature meditations on the girls’ understanding of themselves and their place in the world. The play, which critics called “remarkable,” “exhilarating” and “incandescent,” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2017. It will be directed by guest artist Wendy Dann, a playwright, director and associate professor of theatre at Ithaca College in New York.

The Wolves, along with last year’s co-production of Frankenstein, represents a new development in the Meadows School’s longstanding relationship with Dallas Theater Center.

“While we share over two decades of affiliation, these two co-productions have brought our organizations into new, fully collaborative relationships,” said Gretchen Smith, chair of Meadows’ Division of Theatre. “Our faculty, staff and students are working side-by-side with DTC’s personnel during this process and performance event. Six of the acting ensemble are current students in our M.F.A. and B.F.A. programs: Sydney Lo, Molly Searcy, Lauren Steele, Amber Rossi, Kylie Tru Ritter and Zoe Kerr. Another ensemble member, Ana Hagedorn, is an M.F.A. graduate and member of DTC’s Brierley Resident Acting Company. Yet another cast member, Allison Pistorius, has taught acting at SMU. And Sarah Harris, a current M.F.A. student in design, created the costumes for The Wolves.

“SMU and the Division of Theatre are proud to partner with the Dallas Theater Center for this production, in which, to quote Ben Brantley of The New York Times, ‘girl power is atomic,’” said Smith.

“Our faculty, staff and students are working side-by-side with DTC’s personnel during this process and performance event." Buy tickets to Wolves here.

A History of Partnership

Last year’s presentation of Frankenstein, the award-winning smash hit by British playwright Nick Dear, was the first full-collaboration production between DTC and SMU. It featured Meadows faculty, students and alumni in roles both on and off stage.

Prior to that, in spring 2017, Meadows collaborated with DTC to launch Public Works Dallas, a groundbreaking community engagement and participatory theater project designed to deliberately blur the line between professional artists and community members, culminating in an annual production featuring more than 200 Dallas citizens performing a Shakespearean play. The inaugural production was The Tempest, followed by A Winter’s Tale in September 2018.

Every other year, an M.F.A. graduate from Meadows is accepted for a two-year appointment as a member of DTC’s Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company. DTC launched the Brierley Resident Acting Company in 2009 to develop and nurture professional actors within the community, expand DTC’s artistic profile, and create ongoing collaborative relationships with artists. Ana Hagedorn (M.F.A. ’18) is the latest young alum holding the appointment, through spring 2020. The acting company also includes Meadows alumni Adam “Ace” Anderson, Tiana Kaye Blair and Sally Vahle and theatre professor Michael Connolly.

In addition, over the years Meadows students, staff and faculty have performed other acting roles, served as assistant directors, worked as dialect or movement coaches and designed scenery, lighting and costumes at DTC.

“SMU consistently models the value of collaboration for our entire North Texas arts community,” said Kevin Moriarty, artistic director of DTC. “By bringing the intellectual resources of a great university beyond the walls of its institution and into the city in which it is located, and by providing its students with real-world professional opportunities while still in school, SMU is not only providing a world-class education for its students, but also making Dallas a better place for all of its citizens. This is teamwork at its best.”

Ticket Information

SMU students are eligible for special ticket pricing of $15, available in areas 3 and 4 of the Wyly Studio Theatre. The special price is offered, subject to availability, with the promo code WOLFPACK in three ways: at DallasTheaterCenter.org; by phone at 214.522.8499; and in person at the DTC box office, located in the lobby on the first floor of the Wyly Theatre. The limit is two tickets per student, which must be picked up at the box office Will Call window with a valid SMU student I.D.

SMU faculty and staff may buy Student/Teacher Rush tickets with their SMU I.D.s. These tickets are $20 and are sold 90 minutes before curtain at the box office.

In addition, a Pay-What-You-Can performance will be Wednesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Regular tickets are available at DallasTheaterCenter.org or by calling 214.522.8499.