Booked & Scene

Hive Theatre Company opened their inaugural season with The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, directed by Margaret McFadden and it’s a bold, fitting choice. The play follows a high school girls’ indoor soccer team as they warm up before games each week. Through overlapping conversations about everything from world events to tampons to college recruitment, the girls navigate growing up, competing, and connecting in the messiest, most authentic ways. What seems like simple banter gradually builds into a powerful look at identity, friendship, and resilience.

Standout Players

Several performances stood out on the field. Lily Ayotte (#13) brought sharp comedic timing and believable warmth to her role, earning plenty of genuine laughs. Emma Dewitt (#25) anchored the team with poise and authority as the captain: confident, commanding, and consistently watchable even in moments of conflict. Miranda Slingluff (#46) was a highlight; her awkward energy made the audience collectively cringe in the best possible way. She leaned into the discomfort and fully embodied the quirky outsider. Olivia Lampert (#11) nailed the rollercoaster rhythm of teenage conversation,  flustered one second, fiery the next, making her feel deeply real. And Mary Surette (#7) balanced her “mean girl” edge with strong physicality, stronger footwork and soccer skills, and an engaging character arc from the first act to the second.

In the Zone 

The production’s design choices added a lot to the experience. The turf-covered floor and two-sided seating cleverly evoked a soccer field and placed the audience right in the middle of the action. The costuming also felt spot-on as well, simple but specific, grounding the story in realism. Together, these elements helped create the lived-in feeling of a team midseason, where every scuff and stretch told part of the story.

What Missed the Net

For an inaugural production, Hive did a lot right but there were a few areas that could use fine-tuning. The biggest challenge came from the staging. Much of the show’s action takes place on the ground as the girls stretch or warm up, which makes it difficult for anyone beyond the front row to see clearly. While the director switched up where the team sat in their circle, the low blocking still left several moments obscured and much of the audience in the second row craning their necks to see.

The soccer choreography also felt uneven. Given how central the sport is to the play, the drills, passing, and footwork didn’t always read as natural. It often looked more like acting out soccer than actually playing it with vastly different skill levels on the stage. Of course, I understand that they are actors not athletes on the stage but having grown up in the sports world it was clear how out of sorts some of the cast felt handling the ball.

There was also a solo goalie moment under a dramatic lighting shift that clearly aimed to be a big emotional beat. However, it was confusing in execution, the visual cues and tone didn’t clearly communicate what we were supposed to take away from it and it left me scratching my head. A few performers occasionally dropped character when spotting familiar faces in the audience, a hazard of performing in such a small space. And finally, the sound balance could use more consistency. Some lines were shouted far louder than needed in the black box, while others were nearly lost to whispers.

None of these issues took away from the show’s overall impact, but with a few adjustments in staging, movement, and technical awareness, Hive could take their next production from promising to polished.

Final Whistle

The Wolves marks a promising start for Hive Theatre Company. Despite a few first-game jitters, this was a strong, heartfelt production that showcased both the talent of its cast and the company’s artistic ambition. Choosing a play that centers young women, teamwork, and emotional honesty was a smart move for their debut. With more time and experience, Hive is poised to become a team worth rooting for in Boston’s theater scene. I look forward to seeing how they continue to grow as a company and I’m especially looking forward to their next production The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in early 2026.