DOG & WOLF
by Catherine Filloux
When Jasmina, a political refugee seeking asylum in the U.S., suddenly disappears, her tough, wheelchair-using lawyer must track her down. Who is the dog? Who is the wolf? A psychological and political play of intrigue, identity, and pursuit.
- Cast Size: 1M 2W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
CATHERINE FILLOUX is an award-winning French American playwright and librettist who has been writing about human rights for many decades. Filloux’s play “How to Eat an Orange” was commissioned by INTAR, with the premiere at La MaMa in New York City. “White Savior” is nominated for The Venturous Play List. Catherine’s plays have been produced around the U.S. and internationally including: her livestream web drama “turning your body into a compass” at CultureHub, NYC; “whatdoesfreemean?” at Nora’s Playhouse, NYC; “Kidnap Road”, La MaMa, NYC; “Selma ‘65”, La MaMa and U.S. tour; “Luz”, La MaMa and Looking for Lilith in Louisville, KY.
“Dog and Wolf” (59E59 Theaters/Watson Arts, NYC and “Dog and Wolf” Community Outreach Project.); “Killing the Boss” (Cherry Lane Theatre, NYC); “Lemkin’s House” (Rideau de Bruxelles, Belgium; McGinn-Cazale Theatre & 78th Street Theatre Lab, NYC; Kamerni teatar 55, Sarajevo, Bosnia); “The Beauty Inside” (New Georges, NYC and InterAct, Philadelphia; also translated into Arabic for a workshop at ISADAC in Rabat, Morocco; and produced in Iraq, in Kurdish by ArtRole.) “Eyes of the Heart” (National Asian American Theatre Co., NYC); “Silence of God” (Contemporary American Theater Festival [CATF], WV); “Mary and Myra” (CATF and Todd Mountain Theater, NY); “Arthur’s War” (commissioned by Theatreworks/ USA, NYC); “Photographs From S-21”, a short play produced throughout the world; “Escuela del Mundo” (commissioned by The Ohio State University, Columbus, and Ohio tour.)
Filloux is the librettist for four produced operas: “New Arrivals” (Houston Grand Opera, composer John Glover); “Where Elephants Weep” (Chenla Theatre, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, composer Him Sophy) and broadcast on national television in Cambodia; “The Floating Box” (Asia Society, NYC, composer Jason Kao Hwang) an Opera News Critic’s Choice and released by New World Records. Catherine is co-librettist with composer Olga Neuwirth for the opera “Orlando” which premiered at the Vienna State Opera and is a Grawemeyer Award winner. Filloux’s new musical “Welcome to the Big Dipper” (composer Jimmy Roberts, co-book writer John Daggett) was a National Alliance for Musical Theatre finalist and received a workshop at the Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse, NY. Opera in development: Thresh’s “L’Orient” (composer Kamala Sankaram, choreographer Preeti Vasudevan.)
Catherine has traveled for her plays to Bosnia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Haiti, Iraq, Morocco, and to Sudan and South Sudan on an overseas reading tour with the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program; Filloux was invited to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the Henry Smith Artist in Residence Programme with The Derry Playhouse. She served as a Juror for Sarajevo’s MES International Theater Festival and developed the Oral History Project “A Circle of Grace” with the Cambodian Women’s Group at St. Rita’s Refugee Center in Bronx, NY. Her plays have been widely anthologized and written about. Filloux was the Playwright Facilitator for the International Playwright Retreat at La MaMa Umbria in Italy and is a Fulbright Senior Specialist. She received her French Baccalaureate in Philosophy with Honors in Toulon, France, and her M.F.A. at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing, NYC. Catherine is featured in the documentary film “Acting Together on the World Stage” and is the co-founder of Theatre Without Borders.
“Guilt is food for religion, I believe in Justice.”
Catherine Filloux’s play “Dog and Wolf” is a wonderfully dramatic story of asylum and violence. It tells the story of Jasmina and Joseph—a human rights worker and refugee from Bosnia who fled her country after believing she was under the threat of serious violence, and a cynical yet funny lawyer who is also wheelchair-bound. The play takes place mostly in New York City where Jasmina is attempting, rather uncooperatively, to make her case for asylum with the legal representation of Joseph, who tries very hard to make her care a little more.
“Dog and Wolf” features a whirlwind of feelings for both the audience and the characters as it carries frustration and confusion with Jasmina’s unpredictability and unwillingness to be more cooperative with winning her case, or at the very least defending its sincerity. Despite the dramatic result of Joseph and Jasmina’s, the play has a bittersweet ending that felt very right to me. Perhaps the reason I liked this play so much is because it reminded me of another one of Filloux’s plays: “The Beauty Inside,” an incredibly unforgettable telling of female resilience through a similar dynamic to Joseph and Jasmina’s—the cynical, realistic, and determined lawyer with a defendant who is in dire need of some pro bono defending. Though I would like to say “The Beauty Inside” features a more heartfelt connection between Yalova and Devrim.
Despite flowing in similar wavelengths, these plays had different impacts on me. “Dog and Wolf” almost reads as a story of resignation, and despite having a bittersweet ending, it will most likely not end like the audience is expecting it to. From the very beginning of the story, I felt very sympathetic of Jasmina and incredibly invested in the future of her case, though that waned a little as I found that I didn’t really understand her. Despite my not being too intrigued by the characters by the end of the play, I was able to appreciate the raw, emotional display of the reality of a refugee, a woman refugee who fled alone—it was quite moving and made me maintain my connection to Jasmina until the end, even if I no longer understood her.
Review Dog & Wolf.