OU theater scores a goal with `The Wolves'

A high school girls soccer team made you feel like part of their practice routine — and lives — in Oct. 24's preview of “The Wolves.”

The unusual play by Sarah DeLappe is being staged at the University of Oklahma's Weitzenhoffer Theatre, 563 Elm Ave.

Identified not by names, but uniform numbers, the nine team mates offered us an extended, often R-rated, teenage stream of consciousness.

Among topics were menstruation, what “Plan B” birth control means, the plight of migrants, genocide, and how to pronounce Khmer Rouge.

There were also plenty of taunts and teasing, all done while performers were in motion exercising, or psyching themselves for their next match.

Commented on, too, were emphysema, abortion, a coach's stylized sunglasses, and the other team's “School Bus yellow” jerseys.

But a funny thing happened during this long “dangling conversation,” as spectators began to empathize with the team's outrageous words and actions.

Lucy Dismore won us over as a compulsively nauseous goalie, and Allie Alexander stood out as a tall, redheaded, talkative and tactless team member.

The petite Alexis Pudvan came across as idealistic and touchingly under-nourished, while

Gabriella David was good as someone who doesn't get “self-knowledge.”

Andrea Beasley was powerful as the team leader, almost as crazy as a former coach in running demanding drills, before shaving her hair short in self-liberation.

Alexandra Swanbeck had some great moments as a stranger to the team, but not soccer, because she's been all over the world, with her travel-writer mother.

One of these came when Swanbeck bounced a soccer ball on her knees, while reciting a poem about someone thinking she slept in yogurt, not a yurt.

Team high points came during a group picture with orange rinds in front of their teeth, and group huddles, with members moving, and shouting “We Are the Wolves!”

Lasting over an hour and a half, the play was performed without intermission on a mock indoor soccer field, under the direction of Judith Midyett Pender.

Radically different structurally, the offbeat play succeeded in drawing us into its milieu, and is highly recommended during its run.

It will be staged at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with a matinee performance at 3 p.m. Sunday. Call 3254101, or go to www. ou.edu for information.