What It Takes to Survive

Mr. Wolf

Twelve years ago, long before the play begins, a young girl was taken from her home. Theresa was only three years old at that time. She’s been raised all these years by Mr. Wolf, her captor. He’s an esteemed astronomy professor at the local college. But Mr. Wolf has been kidnapping young girls for years, not with the nefarious motives one might expect, but for the purpose of teaching and training them to align knowledge about the universe with a higher power. His goal is to groom and give life to a Prophet of God. Of all the children he’s stolen and tried to instruct, only Theresa has shown the superior intelligence and willing aptitude for Mr. Wolf’s life mission.

When the play opens, the titular character has just returned to the house that’s been Theresa’s prison and entire world for twelve years. Never having even been outside, her captor/mentor/father figure has bought her a warm coat and shoes. He explains to Theresa that he’s preparing the young girl for the next stage of her life. Mr. Wolf warns his apt pupil that “The world is coming.” And indeed it is because, as Steppenwolf Ensemble Member and Playwright Rajiv Joseph wrote, “The universe cracks open and everything disappears.” And, before the theatergoer’s eyes, Walt Spangler’s incredible Scenic Design, artistically enhanced by Keith Parham’s Lighting Design and Rasean Davonte Johnson’s unbelievable Projection Design, does just that. The house, bulging with books and a chalkboard covered with Theresa’s beautifully detailed illustrations of the cosmos, suddenly splits apart. A shellshocked Theresa is then suddenly thrust into a world she’s never known.

The Jeff-honored Steppenwolf Theatre opens their 50th Anniversary Season with a Chicago premiere. Playwright Rajiv Joseph was lauded in 2010 as a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his play, BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO. In this surreal, Tony Award-winning drama, Joseph depicts the Iraq War with wry humor, as seen through the eyes of a phantom tiger. His other works include GUARDS AT THE TAJ, DAKAR, THE NORTH POOL, ARCHDUKE and many other plays. But 

MR. WOLF tells a more relatable story about trauma and what it takes to survive. There’s very little humor in this sad, often gut-wrenching story about a victim trying to come to grips with her new world, as well as the new people in Theresa’s life who revolve around her, like planets rotating the sun.

Empathetically Directed by Ensemble Member K. Todd Freeman (AIRLINE HIGHWAY, DOWNSTATE), the play moves forward with an almost detached, objective feel. Each of the five main characters is portrayed with their own fierce directness. But despite this, there’s an almost detached, clinical feel to each individual. Theresa, the young victim, deservedly earns the audience’s main focus and sympathy, not as much for she what’s been through but for what she must now endure. A strange, entirely new life awaits Theresa that’s frightening and foreign to her. Making her auspicious Steppenwolf debut, Emilie Maureen Hanson (THE MALIGNANT AMPERSANDS at A Red Orchid Theatre) beautifully plays Theresa as a child brimming with nervous energy. The precocious teenager wins the audience’s understanding and compassion as she brilliantly navigates a brave new world filled with strangers.

Tim Hopper, one of the four talented Ensemble Members in this cast, is a familiar face to Steppenwolf regulars. Seen recently in FOOL FOR LOVE and THE CRUCIBLE, Mr. Hopper is frighteningly stoic and controlled as Mr. Wolf. The actor also pops back into the story in several other roles, all of whom look like Mr. Wolf to Theresa. He plays a doctor who examines Theresa after she’s rescued from her captor, and he returns as the police detective, once again resembling the kidnapper to the young teenager. But it’s as the titular character where Tim Hopper portrays a man so perfectly cold and calculating that the audience wonders how Theresa could’ve found her tutor anything but scary and unnerving.

Michael, Theresa’s father, is played with a quiet, honest sensitivity by Namir Smallwood. This terrific young actor works constantly, not only in Chicago but on Broadway. he recently starred in Steppenwolf’s YOU WILL GET SICK, and he has wowed audiences in productions like BUG, TRUE WEST and MONSTER, to name just a few. As a man who never gave up the hope of finding his little girl, Mr. Smallwood once again conveys so much in his gentle, almost underplayed performance.

Kate Arrington, another gifted, longstanding Steppenwolf Ensemble Member, is terrific as Hana, Theresa’s mother. With the loss of their daughter, Hana offered a handsome reward for anyone who could shed light on the baby’s disappearance. But when the crime proved unsolvable, Hana divorced Michael and relocated to Canada to start a new life. Playing this aloof and almost callous woman, brimming with self-entitlement, the audience becomes skeptical that any kind of reunion will ever be achieved between this woman, her reclaimed daughter and her estranged husband. And Ms. Arrington plays this role perfectly.     

The always exquisite Caroline Neff (POTUS, FOOL FOR LOVE) is excellent as Julie, Michael’s second wife. Her portrayal of a young mother quietly mourning the death of her own daughter, is faultless. Although Julie seems to be docile, glib and almost apathetic at times, buried within this heartbreaking performance is a woman facing a situation to which she must surrender. While Julie is still grieving over the loss of her own baby, Michael’s search for his daughter has finally ended. Or has it?

Skillfully Directed by K. Todd Freeman, Rajiv Joseph’s new play is sad and sometimes difficult to watch. It makes a splash as the drama opens Steppenwolf Theatre’s promising 50th Anniversary. This one-act is meaty and thought-provoking, but very compact. Still, there are nagging issues that aren’t settled during its 85-minute running time. For instance, it’s baffling why Theresa isn’t ever taken to a therapist to help her adjust, after such a traumatic ordeal. But after all, this is Mr. Joseph’s story and he provides us with precisely what he wants seen and heard. The drama takes off with a bang and never releases its grip on the audience until the final moments. That’s when theatergoers leave and contemplate just what it takes to survive.    

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented September 11-November 2 by Steppenwolf Theatre in the Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling Audience Services at 312-335-1650 or by going to www.steppenwolf.org.

Additional information about this and other fine area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com