In this story, the moon is the center of their universe.
When it comes to looking out for one of their own, the women of South Philly’s Humble Materials have a nurturing pack mentality.
The femme-centric theater collective is in the final stages of its new original production Call of the Wild for the 2026 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. And in doing so, they wanted performer Yasmin Roberti to be a big part of the production.
Roberti was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis three and a half years ago and has suffered some physical effects of the chronic disease. She was leaning toward sitting out this year’s play.
“Her illness has really progressed over the last couple of years,” said Humble Materials co-founder Jessica Noel. “She’s very different physically than when she first joined our company. She has limited movement but she’s still a part of our sisterhood and a part of our tribe. I called her and said, ‘Hey, I think you should play the moon.’ ”
It took some convincing, but Roberti eventually agreed.
“After the last show, I tried to tell them I don’t think I can perform anymore,” Roberti said. “And Jess wrote me a special part. That’s the vibe here. I feel very supported. I love performing and things like this give me a lot of purpose. But it can be scary to have your body changing in real time and constantly being like, ‘What can I do today?’ I used to be able to keep up with these incredible dancers and now I can’t and that sucks, but I feel very supported.”
The show’s plot is based on visuals from a casual powwow among cast members that graduated into one-on-one phone calls, led by Noel who directs. The theme of wolves, the moon and a utopian matriarchal/communal society were all baked into the story that gradually became filled with vibrant music and dance. The show features performances by Roberti, Noel, Carolyn Breyer, Amy Henderson and Lisa Vaccarelli.
“After a call with Yasmin, it became this story about she’s the moon and she’s removed and stuck in this beautiful but stationary place in the sky,” Noel said. “And the wolves want her down with us. We have to go and get her. But we’re not strong enough to go get her until we have our fourth wolf.”
The story blends themes of modern American feminism and ancient primal ideas of mythology, according to Noel. And it ultimately highlights the talents of production and costume designer Kat Caro, who carefully sculpted gorgeous wolf masks and shadow puppets out of ordinary cardboard.
“They’re made out of regular Amazon boxes,” Caro said with a laugh. “It’s regular cardboard and if you work with the corrugation, you can bend it and glue it. We play with the different textures a lot. Each mask is about 30 pieces so it’s a lot of cutting and tracing and I do it by hand. The finishing of the masks has been the bigger challenge because I could have painted them but I decided to do the paper mache with tissue paper to give them different layers.”
Caro, a Bella Vista resident, has created countless costume items for the education programs at Philly PACK theater and dance education center in Pennsport (233 Federal St.), where Call of the Wild will premiere Sept. 17-19. Caro says she prefers to use materials that can be reused or were previously used.
“I think especially with Humble Materials, it’s this idea that art is accessible all the time,” she said. “We try to keep it real in a lot of ways, but also in material ways. We try to recycle or reuse or turn things into something else.”
The crew hopes Call of the Wild turns into another hit.
The group is coming off the heels of successful runs of Yellow Wallpaper, All Quiet On The Western Front and CASS over the last three Fringe Festivals. Notably, the group shared its success last year as Humble Materials donated $1,000 of proceeds to WOAR – Center Against Sexual Violence.
This year’s goal is to donate to multiple sclerosis research to help other people who suffer like their dear friend Roberti. And Roberti is doing her part to help the crew. The Allentown native performs in the show including a solo that she created.
“It’s 100 percent her choreography,” Noel said. “She found the music and it’s one of the most beautiful things we’ve ever put on stage.”
Showtime is 8 p.m. on Sept. 17, 18 and 19 at Philly PACK, 233 Federal St. Tickets at https://www.phillypack.org/pack-events/.
Roberti said the comfort of the surrounding performers helped her carry on with performing during tough stretches.
“I feel very lucky,” she said. “The first show I did with this group was before I was diagnosed. I think if I had gotten the diagnosis before that, I would have been too self-conscious and just been like, ‘I can’t perform. I can’t dance.’ But I was already in it with them.”
On Sept. 17, the moon over South Philly will be only a waxing crescent. But the hearts of the cast and crew will be full.
“We talk a lot about what Yasmin is doing as very authentic and it’s very brave and people will respond to it because people want to see real,” Noel said. “Yasmin is being real and we’re all about showing up for each other.” ••
