"Glory" at Theatre in the Round

Similar to The Wolves or Flex, Glory is a play about a women's hockey team that's about so much more than hockey. These athletes are referred to as hockey dolls, sportscasters talk about how they look in their uniforms, when they're strong and tough and powerful people say they must be men, they get paid less and have less access to the things they need than male athletes, and people in power claim women are soft and weak and therefore aren't qualified to do hard things like play hockey (or serve in combat). Was this the 1930s or last week? The answer is both, which is perhaps why the cast and creative team of Theatre in the Round's production of this beautiful play made me cry about hockey, I sport I've never watched and care nothing about. This play (based on a true story and premiering in 2018) deals with sexism, anti-Semitism, war, poverty, and discrimination in a way that's unfortunately still incredibly relevant today. Go see Glory at the oldest theater in Minneapolis, continuing weekends through February 9.

Our story begins in 1933 in Preston, Ontario (about 60 miles from Toronto), when two pairs of sisters are looking for another game to play after their softball season ends. They settle on hockey, Canada's favorite sport, and start building a team. Since the season is already underway, they jump right in for the playoffs, in a do-or-die situation to continue playing the sport that they all now love, and that gives them all something they need (community, exercise, confidence, a purpose). The first act is all about the building of the team, and the second act jumps forward several years to when the Preston Rivulettes are dominant in their league (the real Rivulettes had a winning percentage of over 95%, the highest in the history of women's hockey). Now they have bigger dreams - a world tour, the Olympics - but the impending World War puts a damper on their plans, if not their spirits.

game time! (photo by Tom Taintor)

The show is perfectly cast, with former news anchor Ron Lamprecht calling the games like an authentic old timey radio announcer and D'aniel Stock as the reluctant coach, practicing some tough love but eventually really believing in and supporting his team. But the true stars of the show are the four young actors playing the Rivulettes. I'm not sure but I think a hockey team has more than four players, but you don't miss them because these four are incredible, so graceful in their movements (or awkward if called for), so honest in their emotions, so genuine in the palpable friendship and feeling of teamwork (including some squabbles). Brynn Kelly plays the breakout star Hilda with confidence on the ice, but vulnerability off of it. Gabrielle Johnson is her sister Nellie, stuck in the goalie position because she can't skate, but doing her best for her friends. As Jewish sisters Marm and Helen, who have even more to deal with as they witness Hitler's terrifying rise to power and what it means to them, Kelly Solberg and Josie Ramler also create distinct and believable characters.

Sean Dooley, an actor on various #TCTheater stages for 20+ years, directs the play with great vitality and urgency, while still allowing for humor and poignant moments. This play really covers the gamut of emotions, as well as some action. The hockey scenes are almost as graceful and fluid as skating itself, thanks to choreographer Antonia Perez. I don't know what kind of shoes they're wearing, but our Rivulettes slide across the blue-white floor of Theatre in the Round as if they're gliding on blades, while performing some fun in-sync and individual movements. Glory does hockey like West Side Story does fighting, although Glory, being hockey, has some great fight choreography too. Recorded music accompanies the games, making it feel even more fluid and dance-like (sound design by Abe Gabor).

The in-the-round stage really couldn't be more perfect for this play; it feels like we're looking at a real (if smaller and less oval) hockey rink. The floor is painted ice blue with white swirls and streaks, wooden boards surround the space (heads up if you're sitting in the front row - they do slam into them!), and a couple of benches form the locker room, a train, and more. The hockey net/goal/whatever it's called (did I mention I don't follow hockey?) is moved around to different sides of the stage, so that everyone gets a good view of the action as they shoot and score (but no pucks, which is good because they could definitely cause some damage!). The cast is dressed in depression-era clothing off the ice, with the Rivulettes in old-timey uniforms that are almost too pretty for how they play, with a bit of a glow-up in the second act after a few years of success. (Set design by Keven Lock, costume design by Parker Adams.)

Women's ice hockey wasn't played at the Olympics until 1998. That's some 60 years after these women set records and wowed crowds and showed the world what women can do on an ice rink (and not just Triple Salchows, although figure skaters are incredibly strong athletes too). It's unbelievable that it took that long, and even more unbelievable that we're still dealing with these same issues of injustice and discrimination now. It's important to remember our history, to tell these stories from the past, so that we can see how far we've come, as well as how far we haven't come.

Witness the Glory at Theatre in the Round through February 9, and if you're someone who does like hockey, check out the special events with real-life women's hockey players (click here for info and tickets).