online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Sweat charts the connection between the broader economic trends that animate and shape American society and the lives of individual Americans who are affected by those trends. You hear from the old gang? Jason and Chris are Tracey and Cynthias sons respectively. Sweat dissects the insidiousness of privilege and entitlement, reminding audiences that there's always someone on a lower plane to blame for your troubles, and there will always be someone who stands to profit from your loss. [] Im not prejudice, I say, you are who you are, you know? Sweat was first performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2015 before playing at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. that year. Jason, in particular, is notably altered by his time in prison, where he becomes a white supremacist. Tracey, who comes from a family of German craftsmen, is a militant unionist but bereft without employment. The City University of New York By showing how people, Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs He finds out through his Latino network that the plant is hiring, which the owners have hidden from the other workers. Tickets will be available at the door in the Squires Student Center beginning one hour prior to the performance. [1] It won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. eNotes.com, Inc. Set in the decaying industrial city of . In the Character list, Nottage describes him as "African-American, forties" (vii). Two hostile men sit in separate rooms with the same parole officer after being released from an eight-year prison sentence. The plays setting offers an appropriate stage on which to explore this theme. Registered About 3 Years Ago. ', 'Come From Away', and 'Anastasia' Lead 2017 Drama Desk Award Nominations", "2017 Tony Award Nominations: 'The Great Comet' and 'Hello, Dolly!' date the date you are citing the material. Due to a lot of anger and resentment throughout the production, there were various racial slurs that stuck out to me because of our current problem of racism in society today. In the world of the play, attempting to raise ones status and transcend ones current situation breeds resentment among the very friends who commiserated with that situation. Teachers and parents! Characters are saddened and enraged in the face of wage cuts, and conflicts erupt between them as they struggle to navigate their lives in the face of diminishing opportunities. But I stood on line, patiently waiting for a break. Refine any search. They built this town. Cmon. Pietz portrays Jessie as a lonely woman hiding in a glass of alcohol. It is bookended by scenes showing two young ex-cons confronting their parole officer, but the bulk of the action is set eight years earlier, in the year 2000, in a downtown bar where women workers from the local factory hang out. Jump-start your essay with our outlining tool to make sure you have all the main points of your essay covered. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Tracy is a middle aged white woman. When backed up against the wall and left with neither income nor hope, people sink into racism almost by reflex. 1 Mar. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. All university community members and visitors will need to display a parking permit, use theParkMobile app,pay a fee, or pay using an hourly meter to park on the Blacksburg campus unless otherwise noted by signage. Sweat challenged my thinking and led me to analyze serious problems that still have not been solved. The 2008 sequences also shine a spotlight on Chris and Jason's mysterious crime without revealing that incident until the end, leaving the audience waiting for the other shoe to drop instead of being able to focus on the complex relationships Nottage builds and the reflection of America in civil strife. JASON: Shit, I just kinda thought wed retire and open a franchise together. publication online or last modification online. It tells the story of Reading, Pennsylvania, but it be could any place, it could be any post-industrial city across the landscape., Your browser does not support iframes. Carroll, in his few scenes as the parole officer, conveys the father figure both boys need to rehabilitate. Before this, her inspiration came from her family. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. Lastly, although my point of interest related to the issue of diversity through the play, the violent hate crime towards Oscar was influential in the sense it led to a lot of reflection for the audience. There are many scenarios that lead to this violent event, but I believe they are all significant in showing that, big or small, these racial attacks need to end. If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contactSusan Sanders prior to the event. Ultimately, Sweat shows the interpersonal costs of raising ones station: when desperate people strive for more out of life, fellow desperate peopleeven, and especially, dear friendswill often respond with resentment rather than support. The sheer amount of time that characters spend together in the lived-in and comfortable bar after work emphasizes just how important a similar sense of familiarity and comfort is in their relationships with one another. Note: All essays placed on IvyMoose.com are written by students who kindly donate their papers to us. She has created exactly the ensemble piece she set out to create empathetic, searching, searing, honest, and full of humanity and I found exactly the same qualities in this cast as we have worked together. Sweat is about the private toll of this great decline. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Though they used to be best friends, Jason (Will Hochman) now has a face covered with white-supremacy tattoos, while Chris (Grantham Coleman) has returned from prison emotionally broken. Although Cynthia breaks the rules by warning Tracey, Jessie, Chris, and Jason that a lockout is imminent, they begin to see her as a betrayer rather than a trusted member of their inner circle due to her position of authority over them. Moving up the corporate ladder results in a loss of friendships and social exclusion. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Divisions surface when the African American Cynthia is promoted from the shop floor to supervisor over the head of her white oldest friend, Tracey. Nottage addresses the theme of social status, specifically in how the characters' lives and relationships are shaped based on job position, socio-economic class, and education. (including. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Director Lisa Peterson uses television screens to document major world events that led to the collapse of the American factory system, such as the financial crisis and bailout of 2008 and the election of George W. Bush in 2000, so that the audience can travel back to a precarious time not very different from 2018. She doesnt really believe a floor worker will get the promotion, but when Cynthia talks about applying, Tracey decides to as well. Dor Arena Theatre at CSUB. This section contains 1,616 words (approx. Sweat is preceded by an excerpt from Langston Hughes's "Let America Be America Again," a poem that critiques the false promise of the American Dream and encourages poor and working-class Americans (among other marginalized groups) to rise up and "make America again"essentially to "redeem" the oppression they've faced and the opportunities CHRIS: Cmon. American playwright lynn nottage won the 2017 pulitzer prize for drama for. Based on extensive interviews with residents of the rustbelt town of Reading, Pennsylvania, it shows the anger and despair that helped fuel the election of Donald Trump. 2023 . The action takes place in a fictional bar in Reading, Pennsylvania. Our Essay Lab can help you tackle any essay assignment within seconds, whether youre studying Macbeth or the American Revolution. [15] A five-star review of the production by Peter Mason in the Morning Star newspaper described Sweat as "a tension-filled drama with a turbulent, consuming plot and a cast of highly engaging characters who demand attention from the off," adding of the Donmar cast that "it would be difficult to imagine a better set of players to take on the difficult task of portraying such complex individuals". Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. AHRM NewsASPECT News|Awards and Honors|Bookshelf|Communication News|English News|History News Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sweat [TCG Edition] Good Book 0 paperback at the best online prices at eBay! Stan is severely injured, and the youths are arrested, convicted, and incarcerated. Human Development News|Languages and Literatures News|Philosophy News|Political Science News Sweat by Lynn Nottage Directed by Matt J. Bannister TICKETS: www.ssstage.org November 1 - 23, 2019 Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm Matinees: November 10 and 17 @ 2pm A play in a bar like none other. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. [10] It said that the city was "synonymous with deindustrialisation", for the effects there of loss of heavy industry and related jobs.[10]. However, Sweats cast of characters is anything but empowered: rather than resist the hand theyve been dealt, they, The characters in Sweat have spent decades of their lives thanklessly laboring in Reading Pennsylvanias local steel and textile mills amid poor working conditions, disrespectful management, and union disputes. Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Building,200 Stanger Street, Blacksburg, VA 24061, Phone: 540-231-6779, Fax: 540-231-7157,news.liberalarts@vt.edu online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. [5] She has compared her time talking to former steelworkers in Reading with the occasion when she stayed in the town of Mansfield in the English Midlands and interviewed workers during the 1984 miners' strike. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance Complete your free account to request a guide. Nottage took a break from writing for nearly seven years, but in 2003, her drama Intimate Apparel, a play about an African American seamstress in turn of the century New York, won major awards including the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Francesca Primus Prize and the Steinberg Award. The play was directed by Lynette Linton, and featured Clare Perkins and Martha Plimpton as the mothers and Osy Ikhile (Chris) and Parick Gibson (Jason). Directions Last Updated on October 4, 2022, by eNotes Editorial. Beyond that, however, Mara doesn't project the character's humanity, which leads a character meant to propel the story to instead fall flat. Source: www.asolorep.org. Three best friends, Cynthia (Portia), Tracey (Mary Mara), and Jessie (Amy Pietz), pass the time at the bar joking and drinking to obliteration in order to survive the daily grind. Sweat. But when . As an experienced parole officer, Evan has a strong understanding of the personal struggles Chris and Jason are going through. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Variety described Nottage as going into "the heart of working-class America". The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Word Count: 508. Lynn Nottage, as she showed in Intimate Apparel, which was about a seamstress in the 1900s, has the capacity to dramatise work. The collection contains chapters on each of her major works . The. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Centered on the working class of Reading, Pennsylvania, Sweat tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets, and laughs while working together on the factory floor. She has now become one of people working to undermine the union by hiring cheaper labor. TRACEY: Well, I got you beat by two. After what went down. All of the floor workers at Olsteads feel replaceable and worry about their job security, so Cynthias bump in pay and benefits comes off as a slap in the face to her coworkersone that drives a wedge between her and Tracey especially. It opened my eyes that racial slurs used in this production are still used today, and I believe that should've scared anyone in the audience. Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. For example, after Cynthia was promoted to Warehouse Supervisor, Tracey was very upset which led her to drink and smoke. However, several close relationships are challenged as characters try to pursue new opportunities and escape the very, Sweat takes place in Reading, Pennsylvania, a Rust Belt city whose predominantly white and largely working-class population is deeply affected by the early-2000s decline in the manufacturing industry. Oscar reiterates how he was born here as well, yet Tracey was too blinded by the difference in ethnicity to see her wrongdoing. Jump-start your essay with our outlining tool to make sure you have all the main points of your essay covered. Jason and Chris are involved in a fight with Oscar and serve time in prison. Free shipping for many products! Lynn Nottage began working on the play in 2011 by interviewing numerous residents of Reading, Pennsylvania, which at the time was, according to the United States Census Bureau, officially one of the poorest cities in America,[3] with a poverty rate of over 40%. When Cynthia is promoted, the difference of social status is directly introduced. Chris gets involved in the fight. [26], Sweat received three 2017 Tony Award nominations: Best Play and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for both Johanna Day and Michelle Wilson. The play portrays a meeting between a parole officer and two ex-convicts, and three women who were childhood . Nov. 1416 at 7:30 p.m. All performances are in the Squires Studio Theatre, located in theSquires Student Centerat 290 College Avenue on the Virginia Tech campus. A Critical Companion to Lynn Nottage places this renowned, award-winning playwright's contribution to American theatre in scholarly context. This in-personevent will take place in BMCCs Theatre II. Act 2, Scene 1 Summary. The last date is today's Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child, Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine. eNotes.com, Inc. This kind of intimate friendship seems to be the norm rather than the exception in Reading: Traceys son Jason and Cynthias son Chris are also best friends who work at Olsteads and who depend on each other for solidarity and camaraderie. [3], The play also examines the disintegration of a friendship, after two of the women one white, one black apply for the same management job. . 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. When the plant threatens to cut wages and lay off workers, the friends turn against each other as they struggle to stay afloat. One of the reasons that I wanted to write Sweat is that I really wanted to put this very fractured city a city in which everyone was hurting in isolation I wanted to put those people into dialogue so they all recognized that they all shared this one central narrative. Cynthia gets the promotion, and Tracey wonders if its just because Cynthia is Black. Based on interviews with residents of small-town Pennsylvania, Lynn Nottage's play vividly describes the betrayal and resentments of striking female factory workers in an era of industrial decline Nottage , through not making sweat a more general , traditional , " spectacle " , with large set pieces , costumes , etc . [4] It also suggested that the play was reminiscent of the "working-class naturalism" of Clifford Odets, a playwright of the 1930s. The play takes place in a small town in Pennsylvania where there is one main line of work everyone goes into. During the play Cynthia applies for a managing job at the plant which causes some problems. She cannot stand the way Reading has been changing over the years. 30 December 2016. "Sweat," Lynn Nottage's 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama set in a faltering factory town in Pennsylvania, magnificently answers the call for more far-ranging American playwriting. Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Sweat, now playing at the Mark Taper Forum, exposes the collapse of the American working class in the new millennium. Tracey and Jessie grow bitter. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Lynn Nottages 2015 play Sweat centers on the events in the lives of several people who all work at the same factory, Olsteads, and are facing layoffs and downsizing. Ive absorbed a lotta shit over the years, but I worked hard to get off that floor. Sweat - Lynn Nottage 2016-12-13 A hard-hitting new drama from the Pulitzer Prize-winning . Thus, these essays are of lower quality than ones written by experts. Lynn Nottage's Sweat is an unusual and rewarding play, depicting social reality not often seen in the American theater. You can order a custom paper by our expert writers. [8] Reviews of the play have described the characters as representing blue-collar workers who voted in Donald Trump as president. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. At the beginning of 2000, every character is either part of the working class or experiencing the repercussions of union strikes. samples are real essays written by real students who kindly donate their papers to us so that This contributed to the story of the play, as we continually see different scenes centered around drinking, especially after work or on stressful days. The two men have not seen each other since the events that led to their incarceration. Lynn Nottage: 'Nostalgia is a disease many white Americans have', Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. View our Privacy Policy. (including. Nottage researched her work in Reading and while there, gathered material for her play Clyde's, now extended through March 12 at Arden Theatre Co. IvyMoose is the largest stock of essay samples on lots of topics and for any discipline. Nov. 912 at 7:30 p.m. Filled with warm humor and tremendous heart, Sweat tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets, and laughs while working together on the factory floor. Try it today! The play portrays a meeting between a parole officer and two ex-convicts, and three women who were childhood friends and had worked in the same factory. One of the major plot points in this ensemble driven piece is Cynthias promotion to management at Olsteads factory. Sweat. LitCharts Teacher Editions. She is on and off with her husband, Brucie, who is addicted to drugs. by Lynn Nottage. The New Yorker said the play was "the first theatrical landmark of the Trump era". Wil Johnson as Brucie and Stuart McQuarrie as Stan. Stan tries to stop it but ends up getting hit. This is highlighted by Brucie, who experienced a similar situation at a different mill. TRACEY: Stillyou werent born here, Berks. Human Resources Since the twenties, okay? This website uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. You got a problem, you tell me to my face. By clicking Receive Essay, you agree to our, Stereotypes inThe House on Mango Street Essay Example, Theme of Sexism in The Scarlet Letter Essay Sample, Argumentative Essay: The Dehumanization Of The Holocaust, Role of Social Class in Jane Eyre (Essay Sample), The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver Book Review, Essay Sample on Fahrenheit 451: The Frightening Analogy Between Societies, In Cold Blood and Criminal Justice Essay Example, Class Hierarchy inThe Great Gatsby Essay Example, Scrooge's Transformation in Dickens' A Christmas Carol Essay Sample, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Behind the plays portrayal of the damage done to individual lives by what Nottage calls the American de-industrial revolution lies a wider picture of collapsing hopes and corporate ruthlessness. The main themes in Sweat are race and class in the workplace, the effect of work life on the family, and economies and individuals. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in, Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme, The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Relationships, Status, and Resentment appears in each scene of. Accessibility We are left hoping the characters will attempt to make amends as we see the effects of the conflict. Oscar, the bus boy at the bar, is Latino and is not acknowledged often by the people who go there. CYNTHIA: Fuck her. I dont think you get it, but if I walk away, Im giving up more than a job, Im giving up all that time I spent standing on line waiting for one damn opportunity. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. Faculty & Staff The play alternates between the same characters in 2000 and 2008, a plot structure that allows the audience to see how these choice pan out over timeand the shame and guilt that characters feel in response to their actions, even eight years later. Admissions After the lockout goes forward, Cynthias friendship with Tracey completely disintegratesand when the play jumps forward from 2000 to 2008, its revealed that theyve never reconciled. Peterson unleashes her actors like pinballs, bouncing off each other, intensifying until they explode in the climax. -Graham S. Below you will find the important quotes in, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Enjoy live events at insider prices. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. -Graham S. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. But the sense of pride they've had over their work is being stripped away as the company begins to disassemble. I do. "Sweat - Summary" eNotes Publishing [7], The play has been described as "a powerful and emotional look at identity, race, economy, and humanity. The creative elements of the production fare better, with Christopher Barreca's set taking audiences to the neighborhood bar so one can almost smell the stale beer on the floor. Download the entire Sweat study guide as a printable PDF! As such, the play shows how economic, Sweats cast of characters reads as distinctly human: none are wholly good nor wholly bad, and nearly all make mistakes that hurt themselves or their loved ones. Instant PDF downloads. Complimentary and Deeply Discounted Shows. eNotes.com Virtual Tour As mentioned earlier , when Nottage does use aspects of spectacle , it emphasizes these themes further , aspects like lighting . The trade union goes on strike, and company management locks out the workers. The second is the date of Im cool with everyone. [27], The play won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[2]. To understand how we got here, Nottage takes us back to the year 2000. Do you know what its like, she asks, to get up and have no place to go? For the equally tough Cynthia, work is a means of advancement and her union card is a symbol of racial acceptance. I wanna say that. Lynn Nottages Sweat is a play set in 2000 and 2008 that explores the tension in a group of friends in the midst of layoffs at a factory in Reading, Pennsylvania. Characters such as Jessie use alcohol to cope with their problems to the point of being out of control, which was an important symbol specifically used by Jessica Hightower, Scenic and Properties designer of Sweat. Tracey? Stan seems to be the link between Oscar and the others, as the others treat Oscar like an outsider. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. First and only job. T he main themes in Sweat are race and class in the workplace, the effect of work life on the family, and economies and individuals. The bar itself is symbolic of the friendships that play out within it, as both the place and the relationships it facilitates are safe havens away from the stress of the outside world. Not us. Directory, News grounds " Sweat " , emphasizing it 's the everyday - nature of the plays themes . [16] The production transferred to the West End's Guielgud Theatre, running from 7 June 2019 to 20 July. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Log in here. CYNTHIA: I didnt expect you to understand, babe. The three friends' names are Tracy, Cynthia and Jessie. Oscar asks Tracey about job openings on the floor, and Tracey says he must have heard wrong because Olsteads is not hiring and you have to know someone to get in anyway. [17], The play was nominated for the 2017 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Play and Outstanding Fight Choreography. I cant think of any recent play that tells us so much, and so vividly, about the state of the union. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. Nottage shifts in time, switching scenes and showing events of eight years earlier. discover the notice Sweat Tcg Edition English Edition that you are looking for. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2009. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original When Cynthia is promoted from shop floor worker to manager and her coworker and friend Tracey is not, their friendship suffers, and others make accusations of racially based preference, as Cynthia is Black and Tracey is white. Management is for them. Award-winning playwright Lynn Nottage often shines a spotlight on Black women under great duress, as in "Ruined," a Pulitzer Prize winner, or in the workplace like the evocative turn of the . Already a member? In the scenes from 2000, before the young men get into trouble, Nottage sets much of the action in a fictional bar in the characters' working-class town of Reading, Pennsylvania, where people who. Though her two friends clash throughout the play, Pietz appears to harbor most of the blows. Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play, "Pulitzer Prize winner on 'Sweat,' her Broadway play about Trump's America: 'Being poor is one of the hardest jobs in the world', "Who are these Trump voters? 2023 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. To combat this constant strain and underappreciation, the members of Readings working-class community depend upon tight-knit relationships with one another as a means of stress relief, support, and fulfillment. Nottage chose the Rust Belt town of Reading, Pennsylvania, because at the time of the plays composition, Reading was the poorest town of its size in the United States. This Study Guide consists of approximately 52 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Sweat. Ive got twenty-four years on the floor. The characters in Sweat have spent decades of their lives thanklessly laboring in Reading Pennsylvanias local steel and textile mills amid poor working conditions, disrespectful management, and union disputes. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Oscar shows her a flyer from the community center, written in Spanish, that mentions the openings and says nothing about needing to be in the union. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. In addition to being a play on serious themes, "Sweat" is an an award . 5 pages at 400 words per page) Most of the play takes place in a local bar, where friends like Tracey, Cynthia, and Jessie (a trio of middle-aged women whove all worked at Olsteads Steel Tubing plant for decades) gather to socialize with one another and with the beloved bartender, Stan. eNotes.com Im on your side, Cynthia tells them, but Tracey challenges her: Then act like it, she says. Alumni, Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics, Theatre Department Performance: SWEAT by Lynn Nottage. Chris finds Cynthia living in a small, rundown, messy apartment . Struggling with distance learning? Sweat, Lynn Nottage's play about discrimination at the workplace and the effect of economic downturns, returns to Philadelphia, courtesy of the Old Academy Players. However below, subsequent to you visit this web page, it will be thus enormously easy to acquire as without diculty as download . These are only the main characters. Although such connections are often indirect, they arise through tangible realities such as corporate downsizing and non-union hiring practices. Privacy Policy Tracey and Jessie view Cynthia as a traitor. The kind but stalwart officer (Kevin T. Carroll) hopes a reunion between the two will help heal their wounds. Thursday-Saturday February 23-25 at 7:30pm. Sweat is preceded by an excerpt from Langston Hughess Let America Be America Again, a poem that critiques the false promise of the American Dream and encourages poor and working-class Americans (among other marginalized groups) to rise up and make America againessentially to redeem the oppression theyve faced and the opportunities theyve been cheated out of.
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