When layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in a fight to stay afloat. Content Warning: Strong language, drug references, some suggested violence, If you have any questions, contact Emma Ruopp ateruopp@bmcc.cuny.edu, Borough of Manhattan Community College 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. Synopsis for SWEAT: SWEAT is a 2015 play by American playwright Lynn Nottage. This change proves to be an advantage for Cynthia professionally, but a disadvantage personally. The sense of personal betrayal is exacerbated when it is left to Cynthia to reveal that the firm plans to ask everyone to take a 60% pay cut to save the plant. With the opening focused on Chris and Jason, but the bulk of the play resting on their mothers, the audience investment from one set of characters to another feels destabilizing. Fight director Steve Raskin makes the final confrontation realistic and harrowing. 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. Sweat. . They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Everyone tries to stay positive, but as the strike goes on, they begin to get desperate. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Enjoy live events at insider prices. Human Resources I don't want this to be a big deal. (including. When backed up against the wall and left with neither income nor hope, people sink into racism almost by reflex. 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. Giving:540-231-8014,hkobia@vt.edu. When American playwright and screenwriter Nottage won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Sweat in 2017, she became the first and only woman to have won the prize twice, having also won it for Ruined in 2009. Order original paper now and save your time! . Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. date the date you are citing the material. To cover up how hurt he is, Jason mocks Chris and tells him hell never succeed in such a low-paying career before asking, But seriously, man, why didn't you tell me? Despite Jasons tough exterior, its clear that hes genuinely upset by Chriss attempts to leave their shared lot in life behind and pursue higher education. eNotes Editorial. Her friend Cynthia is a black woman who also loves to hang out with her friends at the bar and is a hardworking woman in the factory. 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! -Graham S. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Management is for them. The kind but stalwart officer (Kevin T. Carroll) hopes a reunion between the two will help heal their wounds. Download the entire Sweat study guide as a printable PDF! TRACEY: Well, I got you beat by two. 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. The three friends' names are Tracy, Cynthia and Jessie. Jason and Chris are Tracey and Cynthias sons respectively. 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 . Tracy is a middle aged white woman. Oscar, the bus boy at the bar, is Latino and is not acknowledged often by the people who go there. Im cool with everyone. Academic Policies It highlights serious problems in society such as racism, economic strain, drug abuse, and toxic relationships. Faculty & Staff The people in Reading find common ground with one another in their shared difficulties at work and in fraught romantic relationships; they lean on their close, long-lasting friendships for comfort. [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. 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. A Critical Companion to Lynn Nottage places this renowned, award-winning playwright's contribution to American theatre in scholarly context. 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. Tracey and Jessie grow bitter. [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. "[9], The play's political context has also been noted. 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. Thursday-Saturday February 23-25 at 7:30pm. [4] It also suggested that the play was reminiscent of the "working-class naturalism" of Clifford Odets, a playwright of the 1930s. But I meancmonyou guys coming over here, you can get a job faster than. 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 The resonance and relevance is immediate, as we rehearsed throughout what has come to be called Striketober 2021. The Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts will present Lynn Nottages award-winning Sweat for eight performances, opening on Nov. 9 in Squires Studio Theatre. 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. Superlatively acted Leanne Best, Martha Plimpton and Clare Perkins in Sweat at Donmar Warehouse, London. Call me selfish, I dont care, call me whatever you need to call me, but remember, one of us has to be left standing to fight. Divisions surface when the African American Cynthia is promoted from the shop floor to supervisor over the head of her white oldest friend, Tracey. date the date you are citing the material. All Lead the Pack", How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sweat_(play)&oldid=1127802853, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia introduction cleanup from May 2022, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from May 2022, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 December 2022, at 19:00. 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. We dont really. As the months of 2000 pass, the relationships that create the foundation of Sweat begin to unravel and we come to see the events that led Chris and Jason, two best buds with exuberance for their future, to wind up in prison. Jason is a white man who is Tracey's son. [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. Refine any search. The playwright shows how owners manipulate individual efforts to advance in order to destroy solidarity and instead foster suspicions, mistrust, and rifts between friends. Sweat was a meaningful production as there are many important themes to take away from the story. There are a group of friends that work for the steel factory. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Thats all I need to know. Their decades-long friendship ends in a seemingly insurmountable grudge, a heartbreaking reality that drives home the pain, jealousy, and hostility that can come about when one friend feels left behind by another. Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Although much of the . Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. Chris gets involved in the fight. The last date is today's These are only the main characters. 199 Chambers Street The discrimination towards Oscar and others throughout the play stuck out to me because it is hard to see people who work so hard get torn down due to their heritage. 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. The last date is today's Im on your side, Cynthia tells them, but Tracey challenges her: Then act like it, she says. date the date you are citing the material. Stan, a middle-aged white man with a limp, bartends, and when the two women invite him to dance with them, he refuses. Im not prejudice, but thats how things are going these days. In light of these background economic trends, the play has a distinctive atmosphere of precarity. Reviews focused on the similarities between the portrayal of the industrial working class in a Rust Belt town, and that being a significant area and demographic in the 2016 United States presidential election. I cant think of any recent play that tells us so much, and so vividly, about the state of the union. It won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Nov. 912 at 7:30 p.m. Management wants to cut wages, and the union will have to vote to accept the concessions or go on strike. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Personally, this part of the play resonated with my feelings towards the racial violence we experience today. Jump-start your essay with our outlining tool to make sure you have all the main points of your essay covered. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance CYNTHIA: More money. In a sense, Reading represents a broader diminishment of the American middle class, a sector of the population whose once-reliable sources of worksuch as in factories and millshave been in decline in recent years. Get professional help and free up your time for more important things. Oscar, the busboy at a bar, is viewed as a traitor when he begins working at the factory the friends and their union are protesting. Moving up the corporate ladder results in a loss of friendships and social exclusion. CYNTHIA: [] You know after everything. Essay Example: What Is The Theme Of Sweat By Lynn Nottage Sweat was a meaningful production as there are many important themes to take away from the story. Their whole lives have been on the factory line. Tickets will be available at the door in the Squires Student Center beginning one hour prior to the performance. The play is centered on the working class of Reading, Pennsylvania. o Nottage, Lynn. If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contactSusan Sanders prior to the event. "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. This website uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Less work. 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. eNotes.com New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2009. "Sweat - Themes" eNotes Publishing Jason and Chris are involved in a fight with Oscar and serve time in prison. That 2 year divide is important, because between its first production and its rise to mega-acclaim, Donald Trump won the presidency. The play opens in 2008, and we meet Jason and Chris as they individually speak to their parole officer, Evan. 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 Who is the antagonist in the play Sweat by Lynn Nottage? 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