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A Primer on the Khmer Rouge

The name Khmer comes from the Khmer empire, which was the most powerful empire in Southeast Asia that predated modern-day Cambodia. The official language of Cambodia is Khmer and the people of Cambodia are called the Khmer People. Hence, Khmer Rouge, aka the communist party of Kampuchea, Kampuchea being what Cambodia is called in the Eastern World. The Khmer Rouge were the communist forces of Cambodia that sought to return the country to an equal playing ground, where everyone was in agriculture, no one was starving or poor, and so no one would be considered superior. The cities were evacuated and the occupants were brought to the countryside where they would be put to work as peasants. Cambodians who were educated, held government positions, intellectuals, or just in a higher class than farmers, were considered responsible for the country’s problems, making them enemies. Many were executed, as were any non-Cambodians living in the country at the time. Other ways in which the populace died were from starvation, harsh conditions in labor camps, and disease. The death toll ranges from 1.5 million to 3 million people.

Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge who was ironically highly educated and very interested in communism in his 20s, specifically the beliefs of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. He was unsatisfied with how his country was being governed and spent the 1950s-60s plotting a takeover and building his forces. He eventually took power of the country in 1975 after years of civil war in the country. Instituting communism was Pot’s main goal during the next few years, and he started by taking the citizens living in the cities and bringing them to the countryside to establish an agrarian society. Pot continually faced opposition from Vietnam and his own people during his short tenure as leader, eventually leading to his order to purge the country of his enemies. Toward the end of 1978, with the failure of communism in the country and the invasion of Vietnamese forces, Pot, along with his Rouge forces, fled to the Pailin, a province near the Thai border, and never again reached a position of power. As the years went on, Pot continued to fight back against what he considered to be an unacceptable governing of Cambodia, but to no avail. He became more and more of a broken man until his death in 1998.

Nuon Chea was second-in-command and ideological leader of the communist regime in Cambodia, always fiercely loyal to Pol Pot. Khieu Samphan was the head of state of Cambodia, a public face for the party, during this time. After the exile of the regime from Cambodia at the end of the 70s, Chea, along with other Rouge forces, made Pailin his. He remained there, along with Samphan, until 1998, when they surrendered to the Cambodian government. The prime minister, Hun Sen, however, did not think it necessary to bring the men to trial, believing it best to leave the past in the past, so they were released and allowed to live their lives much to the dissatisfaction of many Cambodians. It wouldn’t be until 2007 that both men were finally arrested with the intent to have them stand trial for crimes against humanity. Both men claimed innocence, claiming no involvement or knowledge of the executions of so many of their own people.They were, however, “remorseful” over what happened. Nonetheless, they both received life sentences for their crimes and are currently serving their time.  

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/29/world/cambodian-leader-resists-punishing-top-khmer-rouge.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-28670568

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22726373

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Snake Handling

Here are a couple of videos about the religious practice of snake handling in the US. The documentary that refers to in the script may have been National Geographic’s Snake Salvation, a series that aired in September 2013. In 2014, one of the pastors died from a snake bite during service (you can find that news story here). 

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The Wolves player formation:

We will start in the back, with the yellow circle. That would be the goalie, #00.

The next two that have  D written on them are the Defense players: #25, #2, and #8

Midfielders (RM and LM in the picture): #11, #13, #14

Forward/Striker (the F circle): #7, later #46

Players can be switched in and out frequently during games, so it’s good to have those extra players for positions.

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Script Glossary

PAGE 11 (for more about the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, and Nuon Chea’s trial, check out Daniel’s research)

Phnom Penh

Capital of Cambodia 

PAGE 15

Khmer Rouge

Followers of the Communist Regime in Cambodia, responsible for killing up to 3 million Cambodians (about 1/3 of the total population of the country)

PAGE 26

Striker

Fast and agile players largely in charge of scoring goals

Nuon Chea

Second-in-command of the Khmer Rouge, arrested in 2007

College showcase tournament

Tournament games that are coordinated with college team coaches to watch prospective college student players for recruiting

PAGE 28

Amnesty International

Non-profit whose mission is to preserve human rights globally

PAGE 34

ESL

English as second language

PAGE 35

Pro bono

Professional work undertaken for a significantly lower price or free

PAGE 45

Yurt

A round, semi-permanent tent. They have become modernized in recent year.

PAGE 47

Tufted titmouse

PAGE 53

ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament)

A ligament in the knee, frequently injured in sports and almost always requiring surgery when it's torn

Bushtit

PAGE 65

mark your man

Soccer strategy in which players are assigned opposing players to shadow for the duration of the game

PAGE 68

U17

Youth soccer divisions are arranged by age group, with the division number being the second of the two ages in the group (U17 = Ages 16-17, U16 = Ages 15-16, etc.)

PAGE 70

Abu Ghraib

Refers to Abu Ghraib prison, an Iraqi prison that from 2003-2006 was used by US-led coalitions as a detention center and torture site

PAGE 78

Midfielder

Players who occupy the middle of the field, in charge of either defending or scoring 

breakaways

When a player approaches the goal undefended; 1 on 1 between them and the goalie

2-2-1

PAGE 83

Bicycle kick

When a player kicks a ball that is in midair backwards. The player is completely off the ground when it happens.

PAGE 86

ID camp  

Training camps that give players the chance to train with college coaches, and colleges a chance to evaluate players for recruiting

PAGE 87

Side tackle

PAGE 88

ECNL (Elite Club National League)

A national competitive soccer league for women’s soccer

PAGE 91

Bucknell University

A private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania with about 3,600 students

PAGE 93

ODP (Olympic Development Program)

A soccer program used to identify players of high skill at multiple age levels in the hopes of having large well of talent for the national team

PAGE 97 (for a more in-depth look at the places #46 has lived, check out #46′s travelogue)

Jakarta

The capital and largest city of Indonesia

Krakow

Second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland 

La Paz

City in Bolivia (South America)    

Kampala

Capital of Uganda  

PAGE 112

“Don't you have the guts to do what you think is right?”

A line from 12 Angry Men, the 11th Juror (fun Easter egg: Another play in which characters are referred to by number...)

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On Overlapping Dialogue

Another key structural element in The Wolves is the orchestral, or overlapping, dialogue. These excerpts are from an essay on overlapping dialogue in Robert Altman’s 1970 movie, M*A*S*H. Altman is a film director known particularly for this style of dialogue, and this author’s (Glen Sutton) analysis of the use of this style is really relevant to our show as well - even more so when we consider that M*A*S*H is a movie set in war, tying it to the other underlying structural theme of The Wolves.

The story, more than anything, is what is important in narration, and imagery, sound and dialogue are all part of the tools the filmmaker has as his or her disposal to tell us that story. At the same time, those tools are used because they resemble something familiar to the spectator, there is an exchange of information; understanding is reached because the spectator has some advanced knowledge to work from. The elements used to present the subject are there typically  because the filmmaker knows what the spectator is expecting and plays with or challenges those expectations. … Director and auteur, Robert Altman, was keenly aware of this, and borrowing from Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock (who also borrowed from theatre, radio dramas and silent films),  began to experiment with overlapping dialogue as a means to achieve authenticity and a sense of realism….Dialogue in the surgical unit was often nonstop as people were talking over each other … Often, they were not actually saying anything pertinent, but the dialogue was atmosphere, their conversations were not necessarily functioning to move the plot, but to suggest the hectic tension of the surgical unit, the severity of the place, and sometimes the levity hinted at by the dark humor needed to break or alleviate that tension...Chion says that this “speech becomes…an emanation of the characters, an aspect of themselves, like their silhouette…”...These are techniques that are deliberate and intentional to create atmosphere, mood and tension, but also a sense of reality. This connection to reality makes the scenes resonate with the spectator, and allows the narration to be constructed by the spectator as a result….This spectator activity is integral to comprehending the film’s meaning, and the use of overlapping dialogue not only works to add a sense of authenticity, and emotional connection to the characters, it also forces them to listen, focus and pay attention. Choosing what to pay attention to helps guide the narration in a more natural way (once accustomed to it), and as a result allows them to consciously or subconsciously discern meaning…

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On War Movies

Sarah DeLappe talks about her desire for The Wolves to be like a war movie, but with soccer. Here is an interesting excerpt from a much longer piece on war movies by Jeanine Basinger; I think this section speaks to some of the tropes that DeLappe uses (and breaks apart) in the show:

...the traditional story format contains three basic elements: hero, group, and objective. The group is made up of a mixture of ethnic and geographic types, most commonly including an Italian, a Jew, a cynical complainer from Brooklyn, a sharpshooter from the mountains, a midwesterner (nicknamed by his state, "Iowa" or "Dakota"), and a character who must be initiated in some way (a newcomer without battle experience) and/or who will provide a commentary or "explanation" on the action as it occurs (a newspaperman, a letter writer, an author, a professor). As the group moves forward, action unfolds in a series of contrasting episodes that alternate in uneven patterns: night and day, safety and danger, action and repose, dialogue and nondialogue, comedy and tragedy, good weather and bad weather, combat and noncombat, and so on. Military iconography is used and explained. Conflict breaks out within the group itself, in which the objective is questioned, leadership is questioned, and the war itself is often questioned. Rituals from home are discussed and remembered, and new rituals from their combat status are enacted. As the group advances, they encounter the enemy and certain members die. A final climactic battle—often a last stand, referred to as an "Alamo" or "A Little Big Horn"—takes place, which reveals the film's overall purpose. The hero, who has usually had the objective forced on him, has to make a series of difficult (and unpopular) decisions. He sometimes survives (although most of his men don't), and he sometimes dies….

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Sarah DeLappe talks about her inspiration for The Wolves

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Reflections on the play - excerpts from reviews

The beauty of DeLappe’s writing is her ability to pinpoint that very moment in life when a number of 16- and 17-year-olds learn that life is unconscionably unfair but they’ll survive (or, at least, most of them will). - Robert Hofler, The Wrap, reviewing the Lincoln Center Theater production

DeLappe’s brilliance is that she reveals her players as they gossip, taunt, comfort and conspire not as archetypes — the smart one, the slutty one, the loner, the loudmouth, the nerd, the new kid — but as young women on the cusp of becoming their own self-defined characters, with the possibility to change, challenge and grow. - Frank Rizzo, Variety, reviewing The Playwrights Realm production

[S]he was interested in writing a play in which the warriors were teenage girls — a story for “We few, we happy few, we band of sisters.” Her intention — to portray girls as “nuanced, very idiosyncratic people” and as powerful athletes, not as “girlfriends or sex objects or manic pixie dream girls” — shines through in her well-observed characters - Sara Holdren, Vulture, reviewing the LCT production

Her dialogue has the unwritten sound of real conversation, much of it inconsequential, even banal or endearingly silly. But out of that jumble of words comes an imperceptibly shaped snapshot of the tricky gulf separating girlhood from maturity, a portrait spilling over with humor, insight and, in the closing stretch, searing pathos — all of it undiluted by the distorting filters of the male gaze. - David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter, reviewing the LCT production

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A collection of articles about Sarah DeLappe and The Wolves

Follow these links to read more about the show, its world premiere, and Sarah DeLappe. 

"When we start the play we're immediately on a planet of teenage girls," DeLappe says. "Instead of following a brigade of young men in the trenches or preparing to go to war, we're following a team of young women who are preparing for their own sort of battle on the soccer field."  - Sarah DeLappe on NPR, 2017

“I had one too many roles where I had a crown of flowers around my head, where I was like the innocent virgin, and I felt really frustrated by that and ultimately more drawn to playwriting,” she said. “Because why would I want to continue being this girl in a white dress?” - Sarah DeLappe in the New York Times, 2016

Three summers ago, the playwright Sarah DeLappe attended an exhibition at the New Museum called “Here and Elsewhere,” which included graphic images from the Middle East. The art unnerved her, but so did seeing the First World museumgoers checking their phones and sorting out their evening plans. “It just felt like we who were taking in the art were so very far away from the content of it,” she said recently. On the train back to Brooklyn, she started writing dialogue on her phone—overlapping chatter about the Khmer Rouge and tampons. By the time she got home, she had set the scene at a suburban soccer practice, because “what could be further away than a bunch of girls warming up on an indoor soccer field?” - The New Yorker, 2017

“There are all sorts of moments in the play where I feel like these girls are trying to figure out what their sexuality is and how to wield it or embrace it,” she says. “There is this looming threat of men offstage who are trying to take advantage of that. I feel like the one solution to this deeply embedded problem is taking girls seriously.” - Sarah DeLappe in The Last Magazine, 2017

“I wanted it to be a very physical play, and for the majority of the play to be this synchronized warm-up routine. There was something appealing about showing these girls as strong athletes, not sexualized objects, moving through something with military precision and unity. They’re almost like one organism, yet their dialogue is so scatter shot. I found that notion really exciting.” - Sarah DeLappe at the Goodman Theatre, 2018

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The Schoolhouse Rock song sung on the final Saturday