June 4, 2024 • 21 mins
What happens when the worlds of sports and theater collide? Discover the vibrant interplay of these two disciplines in our latest episode as we sit down with Marlee Lane, the brilliant director behind "The Wolves." Marlee opens up about her personal connection to the play's theme, drawing from her own experiences as a former teenage soccer player. We explore the adrenaline-pumping pace of indoor soccer and its stark contrast to traditional soccer, emphasizing how this difference fuels the energy of the production. Marlee also shares the unique challenges she faced in transforming a theater-oriented cast into convincing athletes, creating a performance that's as authentic as it is captivating.
Immerse yourself in the fascinating design choices that set "The Wolves" apart, starting with an AstroTurf-covered stage that brings the soccer field to life. Marlee reveals the deeper metaphor behind this endless field, symbolizing the transitional phases of the characters' lives and their refuge in the sport. With gravity-defying set elements and a small, tightly knit cast, the bonds formed among the actors mirror the play's themes of camaraderie and growth. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone curious about how real-world issues are explored through the eyes of teenage characters, blending youthful exuberance with profound adult themes. Tune in to hear how Marlee Lane masterfully intertwines sports and theater to create an unforgettable stage experience.
Contains mature language and themes.
June 6-15 $12 general admission -- $10 seniors and students
Tickets available at: https://chinocommunitytheatre.seatyourself.biz -- chinochildrenstheatre.org -- or contact the box office at (909) 590-1149
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Of the team the team.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
But that's cute though.
Our team right.
I like that.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Wow, they came out so easily.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The lights are on the curtain's up.
This is Steps to the Stage.
Hello and welcome to Steps tothe Stage, the 7th Street
Theatre podcast, where I talk tothe community theatre
professionals you know and love.
I'm your host, colin Pinedo,and today I am talking with
Marlee Lane about their new show, the.
About their new show, theWolves.
Welcome back, hello, hi.
So for those of us who aren'tfamiliar with the Wolves as a
(00:28):
show, why don't you talk about abrief sort of synopsis of what
it is?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Sure, of course, Basically we get to follow a
girls' indoor soccer teamthrough a couple weeks and we
just kind of get to see themwarming up before the game and
kind of we get an insight ofwhat's going on with their lives
.
So we're just seeing like theirday-to-day and it's kind of
it's just a little peek intogirlhood, as I like to call it.
We've been lots of saying thatyou know that little buzzword on
tiktok, but it really is just alittle insight on girlhood, and
(00:58):
it's it's a play in the sensethat it's.
It's definitely a play.
It's not like a movie wherewe're following this exact
perfect plot structure.
It's more like just a view inon human life.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
So yeah, so we're just following this indoor
soccer team who they are goingthrough all those things, but
it's just a view of kind of howit is to be a teenage girl.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So what drew you to the show in the first place, as
a director?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, Well, obviously I have.
I've just recently not been ateenage girl and it's a crazy
little experience, so it's theplay really spoke to me Also, I
grew up doing soccer.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
So that probably really really does it too.
So that probably really reallydoes it too, and I just the
structure of it is sointeresting and it really felt
like real people talking, sothat drew me in and then I
really think obviously musicalsare wonderful and entertaining
and beautiful, but I do think wemiss out on some really good
theater just because it's like alittle hard to understand or
(02:03):
it's a little.
It's just it's not ascomfortable right away I think
we I wanted our theaterspecifically to kind of like get
in, get a taste of somethinglike that.
So it was like a combination ofI just liked the play in
general and then I think I justwanted to present something new
for our theater and differentvery yeah I always think people
should do more plays and seemore plays.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, just in general .
Yeah, yeah, so let's talk about.
You said that this is about asoccer team playing on a.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
You said an indoor soccer yeah, so it's an indoor
soccer team which there's indoorsoccer.
Everyone who doesn't know we'relearning about sports today.
It's, you know, it's soccer ona in a field.
So it's there's no out ofbounds in like you know it's
soccer in a field.
There's no out of bounds inlike normal soccer.
So it's a much more fast pacedgame.
And so this group of teenagegirls they're all from, they're
(02:54):
all either 16 or 17.
And basically this is kind oflike what they do when they
don't play high school soccer.
So it's their little like howdo I keep up being a good soccer
player?
And it's also where, like, alot of college scouts come and
see them.
Okay.
So that's kind of like thedifference between, like why
they're not on like their highschool soccer team versus like
an indoor soccer team.
And then also because of that,they're kind of some of them are
(03:17):
from different schools.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Okay.
So yeah it's like an, like anextra.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, okay, cool, cool, cool.
And then did you do indoorsoccer?
I never have actually.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Oh okay.
Whoa, whoa.
I've seen an indoor soccer gameand I've played soccer a lot,
but yeah, I've never playedindoor soccer.
But yeah, watching it is great.
It's very different because itdoesn't go out of bounds.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It's just like're, it's running, running.
You're slamming into each othermore like how hockey like it
doesn't go out of bounds, soit's like a more fast place.
Love that we're talking aboutsports.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I know I thought that's like the funny thing
about this show to me yeah, it'sa colliding of worlds yeah
definitely, and I've as a Ibecause I loved.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I think most people sometimes who started off in
sports and then go into theaterhave a little bit of more
disdain.
Yeah, because they're like itwas terrible and that's why I do
theater, but that wasn't reallythe case for me.
I very much enjoyed my timedoing soccer.
And then, all of a sudden, I'mlike a play Soccer.
Hello, I love you, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah Well, everyone thinks that those worlds are
really separate, but even when Iwas doing theater in high
school, there were all sorts ofpeople who were there and also
had water polo or all sorts ofother sports and other
activities that they were doing.
I don't get why some peoplethink they're two completely
different worlds.
It's time for sports andtheater to be friends, let's do
sports era let's do it.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
This is theater sports era.
Yeah, this is theater sportsera, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So was that with the cast of the show, who are
predominantly actors and theaterpeople, was it sort of
difficult to get them into amore sporty jockey mindset in
terms of like?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
characters and stuff.
Very true, yeah, we had to gothrough a lot of stuff, a lot of
the team, the team.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
But that's cute though.
That's sweet.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I like that like that how they came out so easily.
A lot of them played soccergrowing up, okay, or at least
like played some sport, somehave sports experience.
Yeah, but a lot of themactually did, and then for the
ones that didn't, because we doactually like pass the soccer
ball during the show, basicallylike parts of our rehearsals
like every rehearsal we wouldpass the soccer ball during the
show, basically like parts ofour rehearsals.
(05:25):
Like every rehearsal we wouldpass the soccer ball okay so
even the people that didn't likeno soccer athletic straight
away, like got to practice, andthey all like I mean to me, they
all like, look, I'm like, okay,I believe this.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That's, that's the important part they have to look
at instead of yeah yeah, so itwasn't interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
And then you just like how theater has a culture,
almost like the people in it.
Soccer, and specifically likewomen's soccer, has its own
culture too, like it has its ownlike style and like look,
because I also like somethinglike, if you think about like,
like a group of girls who haveschool uniforms, like even then,
(06:05):
like they'll do little thingsto show their style like shoes
or like how to do their hair.
So on a sports team likeespecially women's soccer, like
there's a culture of like howyou do your hair.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Different hairstyles have different personalities, so
like we went over that and kindof like why people play sports?
Because for some people it'sjust to get into college.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And then for some people it's like they connected
to it growing up.
Some people play it for theirparents, so like there's a whole
lot to dive into.
So, yeah, we went over that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So you mentioned that you're actually passing the
ball around on stage, that'scorrect yeah.
That's wild.
Yep, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
That's wild.
Yep, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It's a crazy one.
Yeah, I think most of the timein rehearsals I kept being like
remember, there's an audience.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes.
We can't kill the audience.
That's exactly, and as I wasresearching the show, it's like
oh, it's all before game,warmups'd end up kicking an
audience member or a cast memberin the head and then, oh no, so
yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, so it's just the warmest.
Yeah, there definitely will betimes when they probably miss
the ball, but I was like realsoccer players miss the ball
Live theater magic.
Just go get the ball.
Yeah, so yeah, front rowers.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Splash zone.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Be prepared Wear knee pads Wear knee pads Wear
chingars?
Yes, exactly, bring a shield.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Immerse yourself into the world of the show.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So was it?
Well, we've already talkedabout sort of learning, about
the athleticism of the sport,but with the actual soccer balls
, was it sort of difficulthaving to figure that out, and
sort of choreograph?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yes.
Yes, yeah there was some weirdlike blocking situations because
at one point they do a passingdrill called the spider web.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
We had to figure that out.
There's one point wherebasically A bunch of different
like groups of two are passingthe ball back and forth and then
we kind of get sneak peeks ofeach person's conversation.
But to have that work they arelike passing a ball back and
forth.
And then another pair will likego and replace them.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So that was difficult .
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, a lot of like handoffs, yeah, handoffs.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And just like, basically, this cast has to be
so paying attention toeverything, because you have to
remember your lines, you have toremember your character, you
have to play soccer while that'sall happening.
And the dialogue is.
It's like fast.
There's literally in the scriptmultiple conversations
happening at once, so they are.
(08:42):
The mind game Everyone isplaying is crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It's another thing.
It's a lot of overlappingdialogue, right?
Absolutely, yeah.
Yeah, the juggling act of thisshow sounds insane, so let's
talk about the again a soccerteam.
So let's talk about thecostumes.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Oh yes.
So yeah, they're in theiruniforms because it's the
warm-up right before their game.
So yeah, I basically designed alittle uniform.
Oh, that's fun, and we had toorder them from literally like a
soccer uniform website.
So yeah, that was fun, that'scool though, yeah.
Yeah, and also like theuniforms are also important,
(09:20):
because I mean obviouslyuniforms.
So we get that they're a team,but the characters' names aren't
really a big part of the playLike it's their numbers.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Like how they're listed in, like the cast list is
their numbers?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, like number 12 number.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Exactly, and they don't ever say their numbers out
loud.
Okay, so the only way theaudience kind of knows who's who
is through.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
literally it's through the visual signifier.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah, literally Whoa.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
So there's a couple of the characters that we kind
of get their names but like atthe very end.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
So it's very like their numbers are an important
part of who they are and thenalso, along with like soccer
culture, there's numbers thathave different personalities.
So I always notice that insoccer and then I noticed that
the playwright, it's like thecorrect personality.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Took notice of that, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, so like not even.
Just some things are justlogistical.
Like most goalies are eitherlike number one or our goalie is
number zero.
That's just like a thing theydo in soccer and like not any
other sport, yeah Weird.
I don't know.
It's like it's just kind oflike a goalie is an important
position, so it's like they kindof get these important numbers
as like a signifier, but notevery goalie is but it's just
(10:29):
like a normal thing they do, andthen, like there's always
number, seven is like obviouslyseven is like most people's,
like lucky numbers.
And we have like a number seven.
That's one of the charactersand like that definitely was a
personality trope in soccer.
Like if someone was numberseven, you're like, okay, she's
going to be a crazy one, yeah,so like, and then it fits with
(10:49):
the personality of the character.
So that was kind of aninteresting thing too, and like
only people who really playsports are going to like.
I don't understand thatreference, but it's there, yeah,
so yeah, there's interestingthings like that with the
uniform and just the connectionof sports and theater.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I like that, that the player actually took notice of
real things in the sport and inthe culture of the sport.
Yes, yeah, yes.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
We definitely get immersed in soccer culture,
which is kind of interesting forpeople who aren't used to it.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, it's crazy.
It's a crazy little world.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Because, again, the players are the only characters
in this show.
Basically, right, yep, like onstage, yes, one at the very end.
No spoilers Because yeah, andthen we only see them during
this specific moment, like eachday or each week.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Right, Only the warm-up.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Okay, not them at school or at home or anything,
it is just.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Just the warm-up every Saturday.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Every Saturday, all right, all just Just the warmup
every Saturday, every Saturday,all right, all right.
So the set let's talk aboutthat, yes, of course, you know I
love, I love missed sets.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
So yeah, this, this set is interesting because
there's AstroTurf all over thestage.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Okay, so Like an actual pitch.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yes, like an actual pitch.
So that's kind of called for inthe script and most of the sets
have that, and obviously Iwanted to do that too.
So I just finished the set andwe literally have grass on the
floor, that's so cool though.
Yeah, so I'm sorry for otherpeople who have to rehearse on
the stage, but yeah, and thenthere's also some.
(12:32):
basically the kind of ideabehind the set is that this
field kind of let me just Ipersonally am someone who likes
like a metaphorical set and likeit doesn't have to be like
fully like we're in a house yeah, fully realized, yeah so I like
to kind of go up in the air.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Imagination yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
So basically the whole kind of idea behind it is
that this field kind of goes onforever.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Because these girls are like in this moment in their
lives where, like everything'shappening to them and you're in
this like weird in-between stageand it's like you kind of they
kind of find like solace andlike and stress and anxiety in
soccer, so like where we seethem it's just kind of always
(13:15):
just on the field.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
And I also think it kind of plays back to soccer and
even like theater imitates life.
So like what's happening intheir games and what's happening
on their team like imitates howhumans are in real life.
So it's like the field alsogoes on forever.
Yeah, like we're also still allplaying a game and like whoa
(13:37):
crazy, insane.
But also there's just grasseverywhere.
Basically, that's also what Ilove grass.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
The set for the show is just really cool in the way
that it's meant to be designed.
I saw at FJC when they did itin a black box theater and so
they had the risers around itthat just were the bleachers
around the field.
I'm like that's so.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
There's a bunch of cool stuff you can do.
That's so cool.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That's so big brain to me.
Yeah, that's so like big brainto me.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, I also have some gravity defying moments.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
What Wait really?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
That's dramatic, but you'll see.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Okay.
Come see, it Come see gravitydefying moments at the walls,
that's right, yeah.
This is a very small cast, Tencharacters, I think.
Total there's ten charactersand we have 12 in our cast.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Okay, yeah, total there's 10 characters and we
have 12 in our cast Okay, yeah,yeah, it's a crazy, it's very,
it's different.
Yeah, we usually have like somepretty big cast, so we get a
very like close-in view.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah far more like intimate.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Have you all become sort of a close group?
Yeah, whoa, it's crazy out here.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, crazy yeah I definitely think we've become
close and also pretty mucheveryone like we're all similar
ages and like obviously I'm likea younger director, so I'm
closer in age to them to likeanything else, and I think we
definitely have like formed alittle, a little pack you can
also say, oh, yeah, it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Well, because I'm sure you're all very close.
Yeah, you said you're veryclose in age to these characters
and somewhat recently out ofhigh school into or out of
college in your experience now,crazy, crazy, so yeah, very
similar to you guys.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then this is a one act.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Yes, it is.
Or was written as a one act.
We will have a little baby,little intermission.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Okay, fun.
Yeah so you can get snacks,love that Go to the bathroom.
How long would each act be thenin this case?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
It's the whole.
Okay, the whole show is an hourand a half, so it's like 45
minutes each.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Maybe the first one's like a little bit longer, but
just about that.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, somewhere around there.
And then you were talking aboutsort of how these players in
this team have different sort ofmodes of expression, sort of
how they dress and how theirhair is done.
Am I correct in?
One of these characters has ashaved head or just cut very,
very close to the Well, yeah.
(16:09):
Is that?
Yeah, okay, that's a problem.
Yeah, would you?
Yeah, is that something that?
Because?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
yeah, that's 20, that's 25 and yeah, basically,
yeah, some some hair cuttinghappened really actually no
that's the magic of theater.
No, there's no actual.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
There's no actual there's no actual Dang it, no,
no, but we'll see it on stageand we'll believe it.
We will.
We talk about the onlycharacters on stage.
For the most part are thesekids.
There are no adults anywhere.
It is just from thesecharacters' perspectives that we
see sort of their whole livesand experiences, and we only
hear about other people throughtheir lenses.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Their conversations.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, their opinions yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, there's also a really interesting thing going
on in every week.
So basically every week kind ofhas a new topic that they're
talking about and it's a lot ofreal world controversial topics.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Heavy political.
Lot of like real world.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah like controversial topics that
they're talking, like political,exactly that they're like
coinciding with, like um, atopic that you would it's more
conducive of, like how a teenagegirl would talk.
So it's like we kind of havethese like dualities going on,
but, like as someone whoactually is a teenage girl, I'm
not a teenage girl well as ateenager recently, like that is
more of like how we are, likeit's duality of like you're a
(17:27):
kid and you're an adult.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So like you can see in their conversations that
they're also kids and adults atthe same time, Okay.
So like the play also kind ofworks with that.
And also what I really like isthey are not perfect people.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
They are not politically correct.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
They are not nice all the time.
They have like.
It just feels like real people.
You know like they're peoplethey're not like these perfect.
Like oh, I love them so much.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Like they say the wrong thing sometimes, which we
all do.
Yeah, as all teenagers do.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
When we're trying to figure ourselves out Exactly,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
When does does this take place?
In a specific time period or isit meant to be sort of it's?
It's meant to be like it's.
It's like recent, but not liketoo recent.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We're kind of in, like the 2016, to 2018 kind of
situation we're recent enoughwhere, like the clothes look the
same, but yeah not so recentlike we've dealt with, like the
pandemic, yeah, okay, okay, forsure, for sure in that kind of
gray area yeah, but even earlierthen you mentioned that it is.
You said it's more of a playthan a movie, as in, there's not
as much of a like.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, there's not that much of a plot.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I like I don't know what playwright said this, but
he said movies are focusing on aplot, tv shows are focusing on
characters and plays focus in onideas.
So I always like was like, Iwas like, oh my.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
God, I just love that .
Speaker 1 (18:47):
And I think we are so comfortable with TV and movies
and so when a play actually isvery theater-like and it focuses
on an idea, instead of I meanobviously, it focuses on
character and plot.
They all include all elementsof that, but the real focus is
just an idea and a lot of peoplekind of get wary from that.
And I was like oof.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
You sort of latch onto that, I latch onto that I
find that really interestingyeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So, yeah, so that's something I always think about
and I was like this is a perfectexample.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
So what are the show dates forthe Wolves?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, june 6th is our opening night, so 6, 7, 8, 9,
and then 13, 14, 15, if I havethat correctly.
And then also, if you're comingto see the show, we trigger
warning for bad language andsome difficult topics.
So just you know, obviouslycome see it, it's incredible.
(19:40):
But yeah, just not children.
Yes, not children, becausewe're cussing, we're cussing on
stage, crazy cussing.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
We can't even cuss on this show.
I can't imagine.
No, I can't.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
But yeah, that's also been kind of fun.
Yeah, Because it's very asteenagers speak, it's rough.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So you're like wow, we're saying that yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
And it's funny because it kind of gets
desensitized in rehearsal.
And I'm like I need to pullthat back.
Yeah, I'm saying that word alot.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Oh, no, really.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, it's crazy out there.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Dang yeah, yeah.
So it's kind of edgy Engieteenagers.
What are you talking about?
That's crazy.
What that's insane?
No, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
know where people can find tickets if they want to.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Of course.
Obviously, the Chino CommunityChildren's beautiful website
always has our beautiful ticketlink.
And then I think that Instagramhas tickets in the bio.
I mean you buy them through thewebsite but you can find it
through Instagram, facebook, allthe gorgeous things like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Well, thank you so much for talking to me today.
Of course, and everyonelistening, be sure to buy
tickets to the Wolves and go seeit.
It sounds like it's going to bereally cool.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, thank you for being here.
Of course, yeah, thanks forlistening to Steps to the Stage,
and now it's time for theCurtain Call.
Listening to Steps to the Stageand now it's time for the
(21:18):
curtain call.
Of the team the team.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
But that's cute though.
Our team right.
I like that.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Wow, they came out so easily.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The lights are on the curtain's up.
This is Steps to the Stage.
Hello and welcome to Steps tothe Stage, the 7th Street
Theatre podcast, where I talk tothe community theatre
professionals you know and love.
I'm your host, colin Pinedo,and today I am talking with
Marlee Lane about their new show, the.
About their new show, theWolves.
Welcome back, hello, hi.
So for those of us who aren'tfamiliar with the Wolves as a
(00:28):
show, why don't you talk about abrief sort of synopsis of what
it is?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Sure, of course, Basically we get to follow a
girls' indoor soccer teamthrough a couple weeks and we
just kind of get to see themwarming up before the game and
kind of we get an insight ofwhat's going on with their lives
.
So we're just seeing like theirday-to-day and it's kind of
it's just a little peek intogirlhood, as I like to call it.
We've been lots of saying thatyou know that little buzzword on
tiktok, but it really is just alittle insight on girlhood, and
(00:58):
it's it's a play in the sensethat it's.
It's definitely a play.
It's not like a movie wherewe're following this exact
perfect plot structure.
It's more like just a view inon human life.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
So yeah, so we're just following this indoor
soccer team who they are goingthrough all those things, but
it's just a view of kind of howit is to be a teenage girl.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So what drew you to the show in the first place, as
a director?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, Well, obviously I have.
I've just recently not been ateenage girl and it's a crazy
little experience, so it's theplay really spoke to me Also, I
grew up doing soccer.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
So that probably really really does it too.
So that probably really reallydoes it too, and I just the
structure of it is sointeresting and it really felt
like real people talking, sothat drew me in and then I
really think obviously musicalsare wonderful and entertaining
and beautiful, but I do think wemiss out on some really good
theater just because it's like alittle hard to understand or
(02:03):
it's a little.
It's just it's not ascomfortable right away I think
we I wanted our theaterspecifically to kind of like get
in, get a taste of somethinglike that.
So it was like a combination ofI just liked the play in
general and then I think I justwanted to present something new
for our theater and differentvery yeah I always think people
should do more plays and seemore plays.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, just in general .
Yeah, yeah, so let's talk about.
You said that this is about asoccer team playing on a.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
You said an indoor soccer yeah, so it's an indoor
soccer team which there's indoorsoccer.
Everyone who doesn't know we'relearning about sports today.
It's, you know, it's soccer ona in a field.
So it's there's no out ofbounds in like you know it's
soccer in a field.
There's no out of bounds inlike normal soccer.
So it's a much more fast pacedgame.
And so this group of teenagegirls they're all from, they're
(02:54):
all either 16 or 17.
And basically this is kind oflike what they do when they
don't play high school soccer.
So it's their little like howdo I keep up being a good soccer
player?
And it's also where, like, alot of college scouts come and
see them.
Okay.
So that's kind of like thedifference between, like why
they're not on like their highschool soccer team versus like
an indoor soccer team.
And then also because of that,they're kind of some of them are
(03:17):
from different schools.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Okay.
So yeah it's like an, like anextra.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, okay, cool, cool, cool.
And then did you do indoorsoccer?
I never have actually.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Oh okay.
Whoa, whoa.
I've seen an indoor soccer gameand I've played soccer a lot,
but yeah, I've never playedindoor soccer.
But yeah, watching it is great.
It's very different because itdoesn't go out of bounds.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It's just like're, it's running, running.
You're slamming into each othermore like how hockey like it
doesn't go out of bounds, soit's like a more fast place.
Love that we're talking aboutsports.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I know I thought that's like the funny thing
about this show to me yeah, it'sa colliding of worlds yeah
definitely, and I've as a Ibecause I loved.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I think most people sometimes who started off in
sports and then go into theaterhave a little bit of more
disdain.
Yeah, because they're like itwas terrible and that's why I do
theater, but that wasn't reallythe case for me.
I very much enjoyed my timedoing soccer.
And then, all of a sudden, I'mlike a play Soccer.
Hello, I love you, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah Well, everyone thinks that those worlds are
really separate, but even when Iwas doing theater in high
school, there were all sorts ofpeople who were there and also
had water polo or all sorts ofother sports and other
activities that they were doing.
I don't get why some peoplethink they're two completely
different worlds.
It's time for sports andtheater to be friends, let's do
sports era let's do it.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
This is theater sports era.
Yeah, this is theater sportsera, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So was that with the cast of the show, who are
predominantly actors and theaterpeople, was it sort of
difficult to get them into amore sporty jockey mindset in
terms of like?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
characters and stuff.
Very true, yeah, we had to gothrough a lot of stuff, a lot of
the team, the team.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
But that's cute though.
That's sweet.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I like that like that how they came out so easily.
A lot of them played soccergrowing up, okay, or at least
like played some sport, somehave sports experience.
Yeah, but a lot of themactually did, and then for the
ones that didn't, because we doactually like pass the soccer
ball during the show, basicallylike parts of our rehearsals
like every rehearsal we wouldpass the soccer ball during the
show, basically like parts ofour rehearsals.
(05:25):
Like every rehearsal we wouldpass the soccer ball okay so
even the people that didn't likeno soccer athletic straight
away, like got to practice, andthey all like I mean to me, they
all like, look, I'm like, okay,I believe this.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That's, that's the important part they have to look
at instead of yeah yeah, so itwasn't interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
And then you just like how theater has a culture,
almost like the people in it.
Soccer, and specifically likewomen's soccer, has its own
culture too, like it has its ownlike style and like look,
because I also like somethinglike, if you think about like,
like a group of girls who haveschool uniforms, like even then,
(06:05):
like they'll do little thingsto show their style like shoes
or like how to do their hair.
So on a sports team likeespecially women's soccer, like
there's a culture of like howyou do your hair.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Different hairstyles have different personalities, so
like we went over that and kindof like why people play sports?
Because for some people it'sjust to get into college.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And then for some people it's like they connected
to it growing up.
Some people play it for theirparents, so like there's a whole
lot to dive into.
So, yeah, we went over that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So you mentioned that you're actually passing the
ball around on stage, that'scorrect yeah.
That's wild.
Yep, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
That's wild.
Yep, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It's a crazy one.
Yeah, I think most of the timein rehearsals I kept being like
remember, there's an audience.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes.
We can't kill the audience.
That's exactly, and as I wasresearching the show, it's like
oh, it's all before game,warmups'd end up kicking an
audience member or a cast memberin the head and then, oh no, so
yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, so it's just the warmest.
Yeah, there definitely will betimes when they probably miss
the ball, but I was like realsoccer players miss the ball
Live theater magic.
Just go get the ball.
Yeah, so yeah, front rowers.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Splash zone.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Be prepared Wear knee pads Wear knee pads Wear
chingars?
Yes, exactly, bring a shield.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Immerse yourself into the world of the show.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So was it?
Well, we've already talkedabout sort of learning, about
the athleticism of the sport,but with the actual soccer balls
, was it sort of difficulthaving to figure that out, and
sort of choreograph?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yes.
Yes, yeah there was some weirdlike blocking situations because
at one point they do a passingdrill called the spider web.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
We had to figure that out.
There's one point wherebasically A bunch of different
like groups of two are passingthe ball back and forth and then
we kind of get sneak peeks ofeach person's conversation.
But to have that work they arelike passing a ball back and
forth.
And then another pair will likego and replace them.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So that was difficult .
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, a lot of like handoffs, yeah, handoffs.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And just like, basically, this cast has to be
so paying attention toeverything, because you have to
remember your lines, you have toremember your character, you
have to play soccer while that'sall happening.
And the dialogue is.
It's like fast.
There's literally in the scriptmultiple conversations
happening at once, so they are.
(08:42):
The mind game Everyone isplaying is crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It's another thing.
It's a lot of overlappingdialogue, right?
Absolutely, yeah.
Yeah, the juggling act of thisshow sounds insane, so let's
talk about the again a soccerteam.
So let's talk about thecostumes.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Oh yes.
So yeah, they're in theiruniforms because it's the
warm-up right before their game.
So yeah, I basically designed alittle uniform.
Oh, that's fun, and we had toorder them from literally like a
soccer uniform website.
So yeah, that was fun, that'scool though, yeah.
Yeah, and also like theuniforms are also important,
(09:20):
because I mean obviouslyuniforms.
So we get that they're a team,but the characters' names aren't
really a big part of the playLike it's their numbers.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Like how they're listed in, like the cast list is
their numbers?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, like number 12 number.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Exactly, and they don't ever say their numbers out
loud.
Okay, so the only way theaudience kind of knows who's who
is through.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
literally it's through the visual signifier.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah, literally Whoa.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
So there's a couple of the characters that we kind
of get their names but like atthe very end.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
So it's very like their numbers are an important
part of who they are and thenalso, along with like soccer
culture, there's numbers thathave different personalities.
So I always notice that insoccer and then I noticed that
the playwright, it's like thecorrect personality.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Took notice of that, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, so like not even.
Just some things are justlogistical.
Like most goalies are eitherlike number one or our goalie is
number zero.
That's just like a thing theydo in soccer and like not any
other sport, yeah Weird.
I don't know.
It's like it's just kind oflike a goalie is an important
position, so it's like they kindof get these important numbers
as like a signifier, but notevery goalie is but it's just
(10:29):
like a normal thing they do, andthen, like there's always
number, seven is like obviouslyseven is like most people's,
like lucky numbers.
And we have like a number seven.
That's one of the charactersand like that definitely was a
personality trope in soccer.
Like if someone was numberseven, you're like, okay, she's
going to be a crazy one, yeah,so like, and then it fits with
(10:49):
the personality of the character.
So that was kind of aninteresting thing too, and like
only people who really playsports are going to like.
I don't understand thatreference, but it's there, yeah,
so yeah, there's interestingthings like that with the
uniform and just the connectionof sports and theater.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I like that, that the player actually took notice of
real things in the sport and inthe culture of the sport.
Yes, yeah, yes.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
We definitely get immersed in soccer culture,
which is kind of interesting forpeople who aren't used to it.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, it's crazy.
It's a crazy little world.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Because, again, the players are the only characters
in this show.
Basically, right, yep, like onstage, yes, one at the very end.
No spoilers Because yeah, andthen we only see them during
this specific moment, like eachday or each week.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Right, Only the warm-up.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Okay, not them at school or at home or anything,
it is just.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Just the warm-up every Saturday.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Every Saturday, all right, all just Just the warmup
every Saturday, every Saturday,all right, all right.
So the set let's talk aboutthat, yes, of course, you know I
love, I love missed sets.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
So yeah, this, this set is interesting because
there's AstroTurf all over thestage.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Okay, so Like an actual pitch.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yes, like an actual pitch.
So that's kind of called for inthe script and most of the sets
have that, and obviously Iwanted to do that too.
So I just finished the set andwe literally have grass on the
floor, that's so cool though.
Yeah, so I'm sorry for otherpeople who have to rehearse on
the stage, but yeah, and thenthere's also some.
(12:32):
basically the kind of ideabehind the set is that this
field kind of let me just Ipersonally am someone who likes
like a metaphorical set and likeit doesn't have to be like
fully like we're in a house yeah, fully realized, yeah so I like
to kind of go up in the air.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Imagination yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
So basically the whole kind of idea behind it is
that this field kind of goes onforever.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Because these girls are like in this moment in their
lives where, like everything'shappening to them and you're in
this like weird in-between stageand it's like you kind of they
kind of find like solace andlike and stress and anxiety in
soccer, so like where we seethem it's just kind of always
(13:15):
just on the field.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
And I also think it kind of plays back to soccer and
even like theater imitates life.
So like what's happening intheir games and what's happening
on their team like imitates howhumans are in real life.
So it's like the field alsogoes on forever.
Yeah, like we're also still allplaying a game and like whoa
(13:37):
crazy, insane.
But also there's just grasseverywhere.
Basically, that's also what Ilove grass.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
The set for the show is just really cool in the way
that it's meant to be designed.
I saw at FJC when they did itin a black box theater and so
they had the risers around itthat just were the bleachers
around the field.
I'm like that's so.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
There's a bunch of cool stuff you can do.
That's so cool.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That's so big brain to me.
Yeah, that's so like big brainto me.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, I also have some gravity defying moments.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
What Wait really?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
That's dramatic, but you'll see.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Okay.
Come see, it Come see gravitydefying moments at the walls,
that's right, yeah.
This is a very small cast, Tencharacters, I think.
Total there's ten charactersand we have 12 in our cast.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Okay, yeah, total there's 10 characters and we
have 12 in our cast Okay, yeah,yeah, it's a crazy, it's very,
it's different.
Yeah, we usually have like somepretty big cast, so we get a
very like close-in view.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah far more like intimate.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Have you all become sort of a close group?
Yeah, whoa, it's crazy out here.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, crazy yeah I definitely think we've become
close and also pretty mucheveryone like we're all similar
ages and like obviously I'm likea younger director, so I'm
closer in age to them to likeanything else, and I think we
definitely have like formed alittle, a little pack you can
also say, oh, yeah, it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Well, because I'm sure you're all very close.
Yeah, you said you're veryclose in age to these characters
and somewhat recently out ofhigh school into or out of
college in your experience now,crazy, crazy, so yeah, very
similar to you guys.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then this is a one act.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Yes, it is.
Or was written as a one act.
We will have a little baby,little intermission.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Okay, fun.
Yeah so you can get snacks,love that Go to the bathroom.
How long would each act be thenin this case?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
It's the whole.
Okay, the whole show is an hourand a half, so it's like 45
minutes each.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Maybe the first one's like a little bit longer, but
just about that.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, somewhere around there.
And then you were talking aboutsort of how these players in
this team have different sort ofmodes of expression, sort of
how they dress and how theirhair is done.
Am I correct in?
One of these characters has ashaved head or just cut very,
very close to the Well, yeah.
(16:09):
Is that?
Yeah, okay, that's a problem.
Yeah, would you?
Yeah, is that something that?
Because?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
yeah, that's 20, that's 25 and yeah, basically,
yeah, some some hair cuttinghappened really actually no
that's the magic of theater.
No, there's no actual.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
There's no actual there's no actual Dang it, no,
no, but we'll see it on stageand we'll believe it.
We will.
We talk about the onlycharacters on stage.
For the most part are thesekids.
There are no adults anywhere.
It is just from thesecharacters' perspectives that we
see sort of their whole livesand experiences, and we only
hear about other people throughtheir lenses.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Their conversations.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, their opinions yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, there's also a really interesting thing going
on in every week.
So basically every week kind ofhas a new topic that they're
talking about and it's a lot ofreal world controversial topics.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Heavy political.
Lot of like real world.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah like controversial topics that
they're talking, like political,exactly that they're like
coinciding with, like um, atopic that you would it's more
conducive of, like how a teenagegirl would talk.
So it's like we kind of havethese like dualities going on,
but, like as someone whoactually is a teenage girl, I'm
not a teenage girl well as ateenager recently, like that is
more of like how we are, likeit's duality of like you're a
(17:27):
kid and you're an adult.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So like you can see in their conversations that
they're also kids and adults atthe same time, Okay.
So like the play also kind ofworks with that.
And also what I really like isthey are not perfect people.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
They are not politically correct.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
They are not nice all the time.
They have like.
It just feels like real people.
You know like they're peoplethey're not like these perfect.
Like oh, I love them so much.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Like they say the wrong thing sometimes, which we
all do.
Yeah, as all teenagers do.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
When we're trying to figure ourselves out Exactly,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
When does does this take place?
In a specific time period or isit meant to be sort of it's?
It's meant to be like it's.
It's like recent, but not liketoo recent.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We're kind of in, like the 2016, to 2018 kind of
situation we're recent enoughwhere, like the clothes look the
same, but yeah not so recentlike we've dealt with, like the
pandemic, yeah, okay, okay, forsure, for sure in that kind of
gray area yeah, but even earlierthen you mentioned that it is.
You said it's more of a playthan a movie, as in, there's not
as much of a like.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, there's not that much of a plot.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I like I don't know what playwright said this, but
he said movies are focusing on aplot, tv shows are focusing on
characters and plays focus in onideas.
So I always like was like, Iwas like, oh my.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
God, I just love that .
Speaker 1 (18:47):
And I think we are so comfortable with TV and movies
and so when a play actually isvery theater-like and it focuses
on an idea, instead of I meanobviously, it focuses on
character and plot.
They all include all elementsof that, but the real focus is
just an idea and a lot of peoplekind of get wary from that.
And I was like oof.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
You sort of latch onto that, I latch onto that I
find that really interestingyeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So, yeah, so that's something I always think about
and I was like this is a perfectexample.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
So what are the show dates forthe Wolves?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, june 6th is our opening night, so 6, 7, 8, 9,
and then 13, 14, 15, if I havethat correctly.
And then also, if you're comingto see the show, we trigger
warning for bad language andsome difficult topics.
So just you know, obviouslycome see it, it's incredible.
(19:40):
But yeah, just not children.
Yes, not children, becausewe're cussing, we're cussing on
stage, crazy cussing.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
We can't even cuss on this show.
I can't imagine.
No, I can't.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
But yeah, that's also been kind of fun.
Yeah, Because it's very asteenagers speak, it's rough.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So you're like wow, we're saying that yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
And it's funny because it kind of gets
desensitized in rehearsal.
And I'm like I need to pullthat back.
Yeah, I'm saying that word alot.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Oh, no, really.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, it's crazy out there.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Dang yeah, yeah.
So it's kind of edgy Engieteenagers.
What are you talking about?
That's crazy.
What that's insane?
No, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
know where people can find tickets if they want to.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Of course.
Obviously, the Chino CommunityChildren's beautiful website
always has our beautiful ticketlink.
And then I think that Instagramhas tickets in the bio.
I mean you buy them through thewebsite but you can find it
through Instagram, facebook, allthe gorgeous things like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Well, thank you so much for talking to me today.
Of course, and everyonelistening, be sure to buy
tickets to the Wolves and go seeit.
It sounds like it's going to bereally cool.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, thank you for being here.
Of course, yeah, thanks forlistening to Steps to the Stage,
and now it's time for theCurtain Call.
Listening to Steps to the Stageand now it's time for the
(21:18):
curtain call.
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