"The Wolves" - Juggling the Ball With #25
- Erica Gerold
- Apr 7, 2021
- 4 min read
Nine American, teenage girls prepare for the ultimate battle: their soccer match. The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe is 90 minutes sharing the world of young women navigating culture, expectations and each other. Leading the team's warmups is #25, played by Heather Sirisky (She/Her). Sirisky's character is not only written to do so, but the actor also happened to be the movement/soccer director.
The Rowan University Department of Theatre & Dance's production of The Wolves, directed by Michael Dean Morgan (He/Him), will premiere this Friday, April 9, at 8 pm. The production will be available to stream on demand through Sunday, April 11, at midnight. Viewing is free with advanced registration through this link: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35360/production/1040084
Keep on reading for a behind-the-scenes look at Sirisky's work as soccer captain both on and off stage, as well as how she found herself in the role of #25.
Sirisky's journey with soccer began as soon as she could walk. She started with intramural and moved through the ranks in travel, club, high school, and college. With almost sixteen years of experience under her belt, her work on The Wolves was inevitable. Director Michael Dean Morgan found out from another student that Sirisky plays soccer, and approached her to help last year during his class, Acting I.
After Sirisky signed on as movement/soccer director Morgan let her know that the opportunity was still present to audition. She booked the gig as #25, and the process flew from there.
Sirisky: "Being both in the cast and also on the production team side is not really something a lot of people get to experience in a production, but I'm so happy I did."
Sirisky's work was initially aimed for an outdoor, socially-distanced production, but turned to an online format for safety precautions. Finding out they would not be in person was more of an emotional effect for Sirisky, rather than effecting her movement/soccer creation. Morgan had a sturdy set of backup plans to make sure this production never faced an uncertain destination. With his and Sirisky's fundamental practices, the switch to a virtual production was just continuing the course they had paved for themselves.
How did you prepare to teach soccer drills over Zoom?
Sirisky: "That was the most challenging part. I just sat in my room, put a ball at my feet, set up a camera and played with what things were easy to pick up and harder. I know the directions, left and right, can get very confusing on Zoom so I tried my hardest to stray away from that. A lot of the time we were looking forward to in-person practices, so I started out fundamental anyway, but once we found out we'd never be in person together it took its course in the right direction."
The balancing act of movement/soccer director and playing #25 in The Wolves was a unique experience for Sirisky; usually you are on one side of the table or the other. Having her hand in two pots did not offer too much challenge. To her, it did not feel like there was a division. "We all directed this show," said Sirisky.
It's unusual to hear that an entire team had a hand in directing their play. Could you elaborate on that?
Sirisky: "The atmosphere was open for the cast to make suggestions and communicate what felt right and what didn't. We weren't ever given directions; the directions were, 'What do you think?' That kind of atmosphere kept the entire cast and production team working together as an ensemble."
From the production team side, this cast heard on numerous occasions that they were so much like their characters. Sirisky already had a connection with this character and could pinpoint certain actions, physicalities and things #25 would say. She chanelled her in the sense that she was "51 percent me and 49 percent #25". The ability to bring herself to a written character, figuring out #25's arc but also understanding how Sirisky as a person would react differently to certain things, gave her a balence between the two beings that she had never found in playing another character.
As recording loomed near, Sirisky had a slightly different situatuation than the rest of her cast. She set up all of her recording equipment at home, creating very minimal space in her bedroom. Every day she woke up to a green screen and professional lighting in her room. "It was beautiful in the sense that I could do professional work from everywhere, but at the same time it was important for the people who were at home to take breaks and walk out of our space" said Sirisky.
What have you taken away from this production? Sirisky: "As someone who wants to be a theatre educator, there are so many practices that MDM was sure to incorporate into our rehearsal space that I know I'm going to take away for my future career in hopefully directing shows and young theatre artists. Some of them include a check-in and check-out and de-rolling as a reminder that you are not your character; you are just performing as this character and it doesn't have to consume you. Also, just that a theatre production and cast is supposed to feel like family. Without having those connections, the show can't be everything it's meant to be. It was more a communal experience rather than the work itself because the work just came naturally once we had that relationship."
You don't have to know anything about soccer or theatre to watch RUTD's production of The Wolves. Seeing a group of nine, talented and passionate women come together, share their personal experiences and have conversations that they do in their everyday lives as these characters is not extravagantly theatrical. Sirisky puts it best, saying, "If you're looking for that raw entertainment, this is the show to see."
Directed by Michael Dean Morgan
Movement/Soccer Direction by Heather Sirisky
Audio and Video Editing by DimlyWit Productions:
W. Alan Waters, Rachel Langley, and Becca Nipper
Lighting Design by Robert A. Thorpe
Set Design by Dirk Durossette
Costume Design by Emma Nevitt
Technical Director, Tom Fusco
Costume Mentor, Jamie Grace-Duff Resident Audio/Video Supervisor, David Cimetta
Stage Manager, Lydia Riddell Assistant Stage Manager, Elliot Colahan Assistant Stage Manager, Sarah Zigner
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See you next week!
Erica Gerold
Theatre Arts & Public Relations '23
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