BY KAREN BOSSICK

“What if I said I am not what you think you see. And you believed me? Does that change anything?”

That is the question that Hansol Jung’s critically acclaimed new “Wolf Play”—about the families we choose and unchoose--asks.

And it will take the stage at The Spot April 18-28 under the direction of Kevin Wade, a co-founder of The Spot and theater arts instructor at the Sun Valley Community School.

“Wolf” features Director Kevin Wade, Natalie Battistone, Vanessa Sterling, Jaine Ye, Jovani Zambrano, Brett Moellenberg and production intern Ida Belle Gorby. PHOTO: Yanna Lantz

The play centers on a young Korean boy who is illegally adopted by a new family via Yahoo! Message boards. Alas, the boy is not what he seems. And, when his ex-father drops him off, the father learns that the boy’s new parents are not what they seemed on the Internet, where things can easily be misrepresented.

The play takes its cue from the gray wolf, a social animal that travels in nuclear families consisting of the parents and their offspring. They rarely adopt other wolves into their fold; when they do, the adopted wolf is typically not afforded the same rights as the others.

The story of a messy online adoption is not only a glimpse into the shadowy side of today’s digital society but a complex story of family and belonging.

The Spot’s cast features New York City’s Jaine Ye as Wolf; Vanessa Stirrling, who has appeared in The Spot’s “Assassins” and other plays as Ash; Nataliee Battistone, who has appeared in such Spot plays as  “Eurydice,” as Robin; Jovani Zambrano of Boise as Ryan and Brett Moellenberg, who has appeared in such Spot plays as “Sweeney Todd” and “Assassins,” as Peter.

Owen Parmele, a retired Broadway props master designed the puppets; Lana Cheng, an Atlanta-based TV/film designer, the costumes, and Samuel Mollner, Spot technical director, the lighting.

The play won the 2024 Obie Award for Playwriting and the 2023 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play.

The play is said to be sweet, sad, smart, heart wrenching and unforgettable.

A reviewer for New York Magazine praised the play for keeping viewers in “thrilling, unnerving suspense.” (‘Wolf Play’) suggests there’s an animality connecting us that transcends gendered social scripts; kinship and love are wild and don’t play by any rules,” said a reviewer for the New York Times.

The 90-minute play will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. April 18-28 at The Spot at 220 Lewis St. in Ketchum with a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 28.

An Exclusive Producer’s Night for Spot patrons with champagne, and other beverages and hors d’oeuvres begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Appril 17.

Free post-show talkbacks will be held Saturday, April 20, and Saturday, April 27.

Tickets range from $15 to $100 for the Producer’s Play. They’re available at https://ci.ovationtix.com/35975/production/1194324?performanceId=11436504.