By Allison Larrimore, March 12, 2024
As the Department of Theatre and New Dance entered its final week before the opening show of “The Wolves” March 8, production staff are working diligently to put the finishing touches on creating an immersive story that comes to life onstage.
During this time, those working behind the curtain step into the spotlight as they prepare to send audiences into the world of “The Wolves” through visual and auditory elements such as scenic, costume and sound design.
A finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama written by Sarah DeLappe, the play tells the story of life’s ups and downs through the lens of a high school girls soccer team’s conversations during their weekly pregame warmups.
Since the cast all wears the same team uniform, Arely Del Toro, costume designer and Cal Poly Pomona graduate, made sure to give each character individuality through small varying details relating to their respective interests and personalities.
“#7 has a white jacket that I’m working on, and that one’s going to be mainly all handmade, all hand-sewn,” said Del Toro, proud of that design in particular. “We’re adding embroidery in the back as well as studs. It was about her just mainly having a punk rock attitude and a punk rock type of accessory.”
Other personalizations for the characters included pins, patches and keychains on their backpacks in addition to stickers on their water bottles.
The characters of “The Wolves” are also brought to life through the environmental design of both the set and sound. Bernice Lopez, scenic designer and theatre student, took advantage of the audience’s 360-degree view of the Studio Theatre’s stage area to create a space inspired by a soccer field in which the actors could work and thrive.
“It’s almost claustrophobic for the actors, and you can definitely see them under pressure,” said Lopez. “From there, it brings out a sense of realism for the characters and actors, and they’ve developed their characters and their energy all from the script as well as actually feeling the sense of pressure.”
After three years of being involved in CPP’s theatre program, this is Lopez’s first time seeing her design models being built to scale, an accomplishment that feels fulfilling to her passion.
“(The designs) being shared by not only me and my professor, but me, my professor, my director, the lighting designer, the sound designer, they could finally see that my ideas were far more than ideas, but actual objects that they could feel and touch,” said Lopez.
Minh Tran, sound designer and theatre student, utilized the four corners of the audience space in the Studio Theatre to maximize the immersion and tense atmosphere of the play.
“One of the things that me and the director had a common ground with was we wanted to trap the audience into a player’s mind,” said Tran. “My whole goal as a sound designer was to create a particular set of sound with specific effects to make the audience feel like they’re in someone’s mind, or at least the sound is far away. They never feel fully direct.”
Tran is fascinated with creating art using sound, especially how auditory transitions contribute to the production’s storytelling value.
“I gather a lot of sounds from different characters from different areas to combine them and put them in a way that it feels like I’m telling the story to the audience but also to the actors and to the director,” said Tran, whose favorite transition includes a certain chant that speaks to him as a soccer fan.
Although they don’t face the audience in person, the production staff contribute to the play’s immersion by creating and establishing an environment through their work that accompanies the actors in telling the story.
“The Wolves” runs from March 8 to March 17 at the Studio Theatre, with 7:30 p.m. showings Wednesday through Saturday and a 2 p.m. showing Sunday, March 17. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased here.
Feature image courtesy of Allison Larrimore
