The Hippodrome Theatre partners with the University of Florida School of Theatre + Dance (UF SoTD) to bring the acclaimed new play THE WOLVES to the stage. Written by Sarah DeLappe and directed by Lauren Warhol Caldwell, THE WOLVES is onstage August 31 – September 23, with previews August 29 and 30 at 7 p.m.

Pure excitement in the much-anticipated and energy-packed production kicks off the 2018-19 season with THE WOLVES. THE WOLVES is ONSTAGE NOW and runs for a limited 3 weeks through Sunday, Sept. 23.

“There are not many plays like this one. It’s exhilarating, stunning, and hysterical,” Lauren Warhol Caldwell said. ”This all-female cast of THE WOLVES depicts a pack of women who, while warming up for each game, dive into conversations that inhabit the teenage brain as they tremble on the brink of adulthood.”

“The school is especially pleased because the play offers outstanding roles for a large number of college-age women.  It’s a special treat for actresses in our school to have this opportunity to work on a female-driven play in a professional environment at the Hipp,” Dickey said. ”The co-production with the Hippodrome Theatre is one of the annual highlights for the UF School of Theatre + Dance.”

A finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, the Lucille Lortel and Drama League awards for Best Play, as well as for the Outer Critics’ Circle John Gassner Award for Outstanding New American Play, and winner of the 2015 Relentless Award for Playwriting, THE WOLVES was named one of the year’s best plays by The New York Times.

Photos by Rachel Jones. Video directed and edited by Rachel Jones, shot by Michael A. Eaddy, with sound by Amanda Yanes.

Amber Cross, 30, sat atop a run-down military truck facing the barricade erected by Dakota Access pipeline security that cut off Backwater bridge, which was too enshrouded by falling snow to see, on Monday, Dec. 5, 2016. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

“The vets might have been the tipping point,” said Gray Harrison, 62, an army veteran from Fort Collins, Colo., regarding the Army Corps of Engineers decision to decline the easement. With veterans arriving by the thousands, Harrison said, “They knew the water protectors were not going to back down.” Jim Berg, 62, and his son, Mniluzahe Berg, 36, both Navy veterans, heard the call and came out to support. Mniluzahe served three tours in Iraq. ”Its an amazing appalling thing to see congress and the federal government inactive for so long on issues of national importance,” Berg said.

Water protector prays at Backwater Bridge amid celebration of Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to decline the easement for the continued construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, on Monday, December 5, 2016. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

The Army Corps of Engineers’ decision is welcome, but very late, Berg said, referring to the injuries caused to water protectors by Morton County Sheriff’s department from rubber bullets, concussion grenades and water canons in the interim of the decision.  Berg can’t believe the reaction of law enforcement officers and the government to the right to protest.  As a Native American who has worked in “Indian country” all his life, to propose a pipeline for profit, Berg said, “That makes me furious. Most Indian country doesn’t even have pipelines for water,” Berg said.

Veterans and water protectors celebrate the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to decline the easement to continue DAPL construction. This follows the Victory March from Oceti Sakowin camp to Backwater Bridge on Monday, December 5, 2016, the date water protectors were ordered to evacuate. (Photo by Rachel Jones)