By Carole Di Tosti . . .
In a clever juxtaposition between harsh reality and the world of imagination, Soho Rep’s Wolf Play, presented in collaboration with Ma-Yi Theater Company, unfolds with resonating power. The acclaimed work, written by Hansol Jung and directed by Dustin Wills, which first premiered in 2022 at Soho Rep, has been inventively staged at MCC Theater, where it has received an extension by popular demand until March 19.
Sold-out audiences have been engaged by the magically spun production, introduced by Wolf (Mitchell Winter) who makes a tumultuous entrance onto the playing area and interacts with the audience by asking thematic questions which set up the storyline in the two-hour play with no intermission. For example, Wolf asks, “What if I said I am not what you think you see?” After asking audience members additional questions, Wolf explains related information about wolves’ lifestyles and then describes the setting.
Wolf’s questions attempt to evoke the suspension of audience disbelief. At the least they prepare the audience for “anything can happen” moments. Then, the actors (an ersatz wolf pack) emerge and take their places as Mitchell Winter’s Wolf superbly serves to guide the play’s forward movement with commentary about wolves that adheres to metaphoric themes about community, family, survival instincts and love.
The opening creates tension through the interplay of the world of imagination (which allows one to escape from trauma) and the real world which has as its imperative confronting pain to promote healing. Dustin Wills, the fine acting ensemble and the creative team challenge the audience to become child-like and open up to make-believe. Wolf has readied us for the play’s beguiling, stylized world that employs unique, fluidly reimagined props, set design and novel staging to tell the tale of six-year-old adopted Peter, whose Korean name is Jeenu.
Jeenu believes he is a wolf, perhaps spiritually, perhaps metaphorically. We realize that in his belief, Jeenu has selected a clever survival mechanism to fall back on while navigating cruel, adult machinations which have governed his traumatic existence prior to our meeting him.
Jeenu’s unfortunate past as an adoptee first from Korea and then from a second American family headed by Peter (Christopher Bannow) is taken from the real world of “unregulated adoptions.” The term is a sanitized way of describing child trafficking. In this reality children are moved (sold) from parent to parent via online groups, which puts them at increased risk of abuse. Adoption by internet bypasses the exorbitant costs to adopt through the legal system with its complicated bureaucracy and regulations.
Jeenu is portrayed by an elementally crafted wooden puppet, operated by Mitchell Winter, whose character Wolf aligns with the spirit of Jeenu. When Jeenu finally has the courage to speak, Winter speaks for him and expresses his inner thoughts as the Wolf, who the child believes himself to be.
Jeenu’s former adoptive father Peter dumps him on new parents Robin (Nicole Villamil) and Ash (Esco Jouléy) because his wife can’t deal with the child’s tantrums in addition to their new baby. Robin’s brother Ryan (Brian Quijada) is present when Peter drops off Jeenu because Robin anticipates there may be problems in the “hand-off.”
Robin and Ash are a queer couple. Robin has forged ahead without Ash being completely onboard with the adoption. Their stressed relationship further declines when Jeenu arrives, and Ash, who chafes at the concept of buying a child off a Yahoo message board, has an altercation with Peter. Ash uses their boxing skills to get Peter to leave.
The complications of misrepresentation cloud the adoption. Robin believed the child would be around three-years old. Peter believed that Ash was a cis male, not non-binary. He is upset that Jeenu will be raised by “same sex” parents. Later in the play Peter expresses his disapproval that Jeenu doesn’t have a male father. He refers to Robin with an insulting name.
After a rocky start Robin, Ash and Jeenu bond and Jeenu favors Ash who is loving and who Jennu sees as a part of his wolf pack. We become engrossed with the daily lives of this family and appreciate how the design team has created fanciful props (i.e. the cereal Ash and Jeenu eat is clever) and how portable doors, mats, curtains, etc., have multiple uses—including the creation of a shadow box effect.
The action and dialogue move deeper with the conflict about Jeenu’s becoming comfortable with his new family while two enemies intend to disrupt Ash, Robin and Jeenu’s growing love for each other. When Peter’s wife leaves him and Peter decides he wants Jeenu back, the legal fight against Robin (which takes place in an improvised boxing ring as a metaphor) raises many questions and answers few. Where will Jeenu end up? It doesn’t bode well for him since Ryan testifies for Peter, who has become an ally.
The actors, director’s vision and design team have drawn us into the world of make-believe in the service of the dire and painful reality of Jennu’s plight. Wolf Play confronts so many issues. It manifests themes about family, love, prejudice, soul desperation and the mechanisms of survival to ward off loneliness and pain. However, it tackles these with humor and ethereal, poetic beauty, treasures that touch the heart. Praise goes to the creative team who make Wolf Play exceptional, must-see theater.
Wolf Play. Through March 19 at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 West 52nd Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues). www.mcctheater.org
Photos: Julieta Cervantes
