Lynn Nottage's SWEAT Headed to The Public Next Year; Broadway on the Horizon?

Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's SWEAT, currently making its premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, could be headed off-Broadway next year.

The New York Post writes that commercial producers are partnering with The Public Theater to stage SWEAT in early 2016, with the possibility for a Broadway transfer.

Those involved are reportedly considering recasting with big name actors, despite the fact that the current stars of the play in Oregon are raking in superlative reviews.

The regional cast of SWEAT features Terri McMahon as Tracey, Stephen Michael Spencer as Jason, Kimberly Scott as Cynthia, Tramell Tillman as Chris, Kevin Kenerly as Brucie, Tyrone Wilson as Evan, Jack Willis as Stan, K. T. Vogt as Jessie and Carlo Albán as Oscar. Kate Whoriskey directs.

SWEAT emerged from extensive conversations Nottage and Whoriskey had with residents of Reading, Pa., which was named the nation's poorest city in 2012.

The play explores America's industrial decline at the turn of the millennium with a look inside the town of Reading, where a group of close friends shares everything: drinks, secrets and laughs. But when rumors of layoffs shake up the factory where they work, the fragile bonds of their community begin to splinter and a horrific crime sends shock waves across two generations.

SWEAT runs through October 31 in Ashland, then travels to Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage to run as part of their 2015-16 season.

Among Nottage's other works are BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK, RUINED (which won her the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009), INTIMATE APPAREL and more.

Photo Credit: Jenny Graham