Variety described Nottage as going into "the heart of working-class America". Ive got twenty-four years on the floor. When Chris reveals that hell be leaving Olsteads to study teaching at Albright College, Jason is blindsidedhed hoped to work alongside his best friend for the foreseeable future and to eventually retire and open a business together. CYNTHIA: More money. What Nottage captures brilliantly is the way work, however hard or demanding, gives people an identity and purpose. The play, however, takes place pre-Trump. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. [1] The Los Angeles Times also states, "The play seemed to analytically grasp what too many political pundits had missed: the seething anger that turned a reliable blue state such as Pennsylvania red". [4] The play was produced off-Broadway in 2016, and on-Broadway in 2017. But when . Library 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. Chris gets involved in the 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. She bitterly tells Oscar, the busboy at the bar, that she know[s] the floor as good as Cynthia does, and Jessie confirms that Cynthias promotion has pissed off a lot of people even though she earned it fairly. "Sweat - Themes" eNotes Publishing It closed on December 18, 2016 to transfer to Broadway. She doesnt really believe a floor worker will get the promotion, but when Cynthia talks about applying, Tracey decides to as well. 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. Tensions between friends come to a head when Olsteads begins making changes and floor workers face the threat (and, eventually, the reality) of a lockoutand the newly promoted Cynthia comes to be seen as a traitor. Their fathers and grandfathers, spouses, and everyone else in this small Pennsylvania town have grown up working on the plant floor, including Tracey and Cynthia's respective sons, Jason and Chris. 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. Alumni Stories|Faculty Stories|Student Stories|Philanthropy News|Academic News|Bookshelf|Media Mentions 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. eNotes Editorial. date the date you are citing the material. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. As an experienced parole officer, Evan has a strong understanding of the personal struggles Chris and Jason are going through. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. JASON: Shit, I just kinda thought wed retire and open a franchise together. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. In Lynette Lintons production, Frankie Bradshaws impressive design sets the watering hole against a background of rusting girders. CYNTHIA: I didnt expect you to understand, babe. Working with this diverse cast of student actors to climb inside this story has been a gift. They both are arrested for assault and are released eight years later. The BMCC Theatre Department invites you to enjoy the performance of 'SWEAT' by Lynn Nottage, directed by Diane Dowling. I feel that its a common problem in our society to portray immigrants as needy and that they get special treatment for their race. The plays setting offers an appropriate stage on which to explore this theme. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. The second date is today's 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). 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. If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contactSusan Sanders prior to the event. You got a problem, you tell me to my face. Youve always been cool. 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. He learns that the cost of being hired is to become a scab when the others go out on strike. Lynn Nottage, originally born and raised in Brooklyn, New York produced the award-winning play, Sweat. 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. Giving:540-231-8014,hkobia@vt.edu. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original Sweat is a two-act play written by Lynn Nottage. Their whole lives have been on the factory line. Tracey and Cynthia, in particular, are close friends whove shared many adventuresthey console each other, cheer each other on, and encourage each other to stay positive and have fun rather than dwell on the stress of work. He offers guidance that is bluntly, candidly phrased, but also empathetically considered. (212) 220-8000 In 2008, Chris and Jason both find themselves back at the bar to find some peace. 5 pages at 400 words per page) The action takes place in a fictional bar in Reading, Pennsylvania. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1 Mar. The Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by American playwright Lynn Nottage focuses on race, class, prejudice and friendship. Instant PDF downloads. Moving up the corporate ladder results in a loss of friendships and social exclusion. School of Performing Arts News|Science, Technology, and Society News|Sociology News, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences 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. 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. We're friends! Both Cynthia and her loved ones feel hurt and misunderstood, further demonstrating the tendency for inequality in status to break apart relationships. As a community already steeped in tradition and resistant to outsiders, this downturn causes Readings white working class to become downright hostile toward black and Latinx peopleeven individuals they once called friendsbecause they believe minorities are stealing their jobs away. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. This change proves to be an advantage for Cynthia professionally, but a disadvantage personally. It highlights serious problems in society such as racism, economic strain, drug abuse, and toxic relationships. Who is the antagonist in the play Sweat by Lynn Nottage? The play is centered on the working class of Reading, Pennsylvania. Tickets, which are $12 for general admission and $10 for seniors and students, may be purchased through the Moss Arts Center ticket office in person or online. eNotes.com, Inc. You dont want to go down that road, weve got too much history between us. CYNTHIA: [] You know after everything. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Be angry, but dont make it about this(Points to the skin on the back of her hand) Look at me, Tracey. Human Development News|Languages and Literatures News|Philosophy News|Political Science News [4] The characters portrayed were associated with Trump's election campaign phrase of "the forgotten people". Doheny Library: PS3564.O795 S94 2017 o Nottage, Lynn. The acting is superlative. Lynn Nottage, originally born and raised in Brooklyn, New York produced the award-winning play, Sweat.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, with a poverty rate of over 40%. 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. That 2 year divide is important, because between its first production and its rise to mega-acclaim, Donald Trump won the presidency. 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. I hope a lot of people come to see it.. Nottage said her dream is that audience members, after seeing the play, will be inspired to sit down and talk to someone with whom theyve never had a conversation. This leads to a confrontation with Jason, egged on by his mother. Tracey and Jessie grow bitter as their job security is threatened and their wages cut, while their friend Cynthia receives a promotion. 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. Tickets will be available at the door in the Squires Student Center beginning one hour prior to the performance. . I got eyes. You're making the same sorry excuses that they do. 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. 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. They are getting out of jail after a conflict they were both involved in. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. [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. In the midst of all this, Cynthia, who is African-American, is up for a management role after years of hard work, but her promotion leads to frustration as both the company and her friends use her as a scapegoat. date the date you are citing the material. Not us. However, several close relationships are challenged as characters try to pursue new opportunities and escape the very circumstance over which they bond with others. Management's physical, intellectual, and emotional removal from workers on the factory floor allows them to ultimately outsource their jobs to Mexico (because they have so little connection to the labor that goes into these jobs, or to the human beings working them). Seeing the effects of job loss and the economic struggle these people were facing first hand is what truly inspired her work for the play Sweat. date the date you are citing the material. Tracey, who comes from a family of German craftsmen, is a militant unionist but bereft without employment. She cannot stand the way Reading has been changing over the years. We dont really. Lynn Nottage: 'Nostalgia is a disease many white Americans have', Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. 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. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. The bartender in the play is Stan. 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. 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 The main themes in Sweat are race and class in the workplace, the effect of work life on the family, and economies and individuals. 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. They are best friends and joke around together. Tracy is a middle aged white woman. Personally, this part of the play resonated with my feelings towards the racial violence we experience today. TRACEY: [] I know the floor as good as Cynthia. Word Count: 524. Though the play is brimming with these rich themes, the execution does not always succeed. 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