Sandra Struthers, Allison Vincent, Jen Maren, and Jen Burleigh-Bentz Photo by Rick Spaulding

But wait, I soon saw that the play also gives a lot of attention to Academy Award winning actress and director Lee Grant, who is still alive at the age of 98 to 101 (birth records are unclear). The highly accomplished Grant has a stirring history including 12 years on the blacklist for not naming names during the McCarthy era. Her presence here links to the fact that Grant directed both a well-reviewed documentary and a reviled made-for-television movie about the Willmar 8. But, even with the fuss about the Wilma 8, Duran Duran, and Lee Grant, the real core of the play turns out to be the playwright herself, Sandra Struthers.

In the course of her play, Struthers–who has the lead role, playing herself–reveals a great deal about her life. Whether or not all of it is true, she presents it in a disarming way that feels like the truth, at least her truth. We learn about her childhood and adolescence, her disapproving ultra-Catholic French-born mother, her father's anger issues that made her feel unsafe with him, her massive fan-girl crush on Duran Duran lead singer Simon Le Bon, time spent at the local library furtively finding the "dirty parts" of books; and a fixation on Lee Grant as a kind of career role model. Oh yes, and her recently acquired knowledge of, and admiration for, the tenacious Willmar 8. She also shares a bit about the creation of the very play we are watching. The whole thing is constituted of many layers.

Like a cake of many layers, this requires something to bind it all into one scrumptious dish. Unfortunately, that binding seems to have been left out of the recipe. Hungry Like the Wolf comprises 26 scenes in which Struthers and her versatile four castmates spoon out the ingredients, but the result is overstuffed and under-baked. We learn about the Willmar 8 here, Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran there, and the career highs and lows of Lee Grant sprinkled throughout, with pieces of Struthers' biography shared under a single spotlight on an otherwise dark stage, like a stand-up comedian's routine laden with confessional material.

The reference to a stand-up routine is apt, because Hungry Like the Wolf is liberally coated with Struthers' sharp sense of humor, so that we laugh heartily along the way. Indeed, some scenes have the feel of "Saturday Night Live" sketches, including two game show parodies. There is even an SNL-like depiction of a certain U.S. President making egregious comments about grabbing women's bodies without any blowback. Scenes depicting young Sandra with her father or mother, or wrestling with the meaning of everything that's been put on the table as the play nears its end, are the most realistic, another way the play feels more about the playwright than the topics she raises. Struthers herself is terrifically engaging and has no problem holding our attention, even when the play seems to meander.

The other cast members all play multiple roles. Jen Burleigh-Benz is excellent as Struthers' tightly wound mother, Francois, recoiling from anything not sanctioned by her strict reading of the bible, and as Lee Grant, who makes an appearance set in the recent past, as a gracious nonagenarian. Allison Vincent–who seems to be everywhere as either actor or director these days–ably takes on both male and female roles, including a hilariously aloof Simon Le Bon, and brings a large helping of physical comedy to the occasion, adding to the laugh-fest ambience of the piece.

Jen Maren (Struthers' castmate in History Theatre's many mountings of Glensheen) is especially wonderful as Glennis, the Willmar 8 striker depicted in Grant's made for TV movie as a simpleton who speaks in a voice that blends "Judy Garland with a stupid baby," and later, when we learn about the real-life Glennis, turns out to build on her Willmar 8 experience to become a notable labor organizer. Sam Landman, one of our best comic actors, is listed in the program as playing "Man"–a stand in for all the men who oppress women, including the bank manager who perfectly fits the stereotype of "male chauvinist pig," and Struthers' unbalanced and dangerous father. In an especially strong scene, Landman, fed up with the play's negative depictions of men, speaks his mind about feeling erased, which garners no sympathy from the women.

Laura Leffler, recently appointed as History Theatre's new artistic director, directs Hungry Like the Wolf, teasing out each of its scenes so that it is bright and funny, or in some cases, as when the play is describing the hardships faced by the eight women walking a picket line in a minus 70-degree wind chill weather, bright and serious. However, that binding agent that would make these parts coalesce into a coherent whole never fully gels. Transitions from scene to scene feel based on what Struthers, as playwright, thought of next, meandering between sketched-in narrative arcs.

The set, designed by Sarah Bahr, features a bookcase on one side, in what is meant to be Struthers' girlhood bedroom. The bookcase contains a variety of objects (Ursula K. Bowden is props designer) that serve as touchstones for Struthers' memories. In the center, a large screen displays videos (designed by Leslie Ritenour) depicting footage of the Willmar 8, of Lee Grant's movies about the Willmar 8, and of Duran Duran in their heyday. Rubble & Ash designed the utilitarian costumes, with Struthers dressed as if we caught her at home, completely herself and not a character at all. Karin Olson's lighting design and Montana Johnson's sound design serve the production well.

The Willmar 8's strike was unsuccessful. They garnered national publicity–stories about them appeared in national news magazines, and they were interviewed on the "Today Show" and by "Phil Donahue." They drew support from the United Auto Workers, who sent 250 of their members to a Willmar 8 rally, and the National Organization of Women, whose members joined the picket lines. Strangers sent encouraging letters, often with small donations enclosed. Still, Willmar residents were divided in their support, and the strikers took their share of abuse. In the end, the bank did not meet their demands. A year after the pickets stopped, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the bank had practiced sex discrimination, but that the strike had no bearing on that.

However, the Willmar 8 is cited as an early example of women banding together to fight workplace gender-based discrimination, setting the stage for more successful efforts to come. In that regard, those women are held up as heroes. That their strike happened at all was a tribute to their resolve to stick together, and to follow their watchword, "Unity!"

Hungry Like the Wolf finally finds its footing by tying up its strands in a call for community, and the strength that arises when people of good will stand together. The message is a good one, and resonates strongly in Minnesota, considering the trying events that occurred here this past winter. That includes Willmar, 94 miles from Minneapolis with a current population of about 21,000, where ICE conducted raids among the Hispanic and east African immigrants that began moving there in 1989–ten years after the Willmar 8–to work in meatpacking plants that are the backbone of their economy. In Willmar, as elsewhere in Minnesota, neighbors joined the efforts to protect their neighbors.

And yet, compelling and timely as the concluding message is, it stands on its own irrefutable merit, rather than on arguments made by Hungry Like the Wolf. But I have now listened to "Hungry Like the Wolf" and I really dig it. Is it too late to become a Duran Duran fan?

Hungry Like the Wolf runs through April 12, 2026, at History Theatre, 30 East 10th Street, Saint Paul MN. For tickets and information, please call 651-292-4323 or visit historytheatre.com.

Playwright: Sandra Struthers; Director: Laura Leffler; Scenic Design: Sarah Bahr; Costume Design: Rubble & Ash; Lighting Design: Karin Olson; Video Design: Leslie Ritenour; Sound Design: Montana Johnson; Properties Design: Ursula K. Bowden; Dramaturg: Alayna Jacqueline; Intimacy and Fight Choreographer: Annie Enneking; Vocal Coach: Caleb Byers; Assistant Sound Designer: Caleb Byers; Technical Director: Gunther Gullickson; Stage Manager: Stacy McIntosh; Assistant Stage Manager: Gianna Haseman.

Cast: Jen Burleigh-Bentz (Lee Grant/Francoise/ensemble), Sam Landman (Man/ensemble), Jen Maren (Glennis/Valerie/ensemble), Sandra Struthers (Sandra), Allison Vincent (Simon LeBon/Irene/ensemble).