Review: SWEAT at ICT Rep

SWEAT AT ICT REP

ICT Rep opened its 2025-2026 season-closing show, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning SWEAT by Lynn Nottage, this week at The Oliver Place.  SWEAT had its world premiere at the 2015 Oregon Shakespeare Festival and shows how difficult it is to separate economics and race in America, where the middle working class is slowly becoming a shrinking reality.    Masterfully crafted by Director Julie Longhofer, this Wichita premiere of SWEAT  is one production that Wichita theatre goers won’t soon forget.

From the beginning, Nottage’s storyline grabs the audience with its realism and keen observations of life.  This script is truly a ‘slice of life’ and deeply probes the impacts of economic absence and how it can drive a wedge between the dearest of friends.

Nottage’s award-winning drama is set in a bar in Reading, Pennsylvania.  Reading is a proud steel manufacturing town that is rapidly losing its identity as factory owners plot to move their plants to Mexico, where labor is cheap, and unions don’t hinder. The timeline shifts between 2000 and 2008, but is easily identified by a projected timeline on the set. 

The play begins in 2008 with separate meetings between a parole officer  (Eddie Spurlock) and two young male parolees.  Jason (Hunter Barthlomew), who sports a blackened eye and tattooed face, displays anger that could easily send him back behind bars.  Chris (Torey Wilson), a soft-spoken African American who has found God, describes meeting up with his sidekick Jason, who overturned his life eight years prior.

Stan (Chris Maslen) is a bartender who suffered an injury at the plant where he used to work, and maintains a good rapport with his regulars, whom he knows from his days on the factory floor. 

Tracey (Kate Compton), whose family has worked for generations in Reading, is Jason’s mother.  Cynthia (Jenee’ Jenkins Saffold), Tracey’s Best Friend and co-worker, is the mother of Chris. These women share a bond of hard work and sweat, having worked together for more than 20 years, and now their sons join them at the plant. Both women are strong individuals: Tracey is a widow, and Cynthia’s estranged ex-husband, Brucie (David Williams), has developed a drug addiction after losing employment at the plant.  Hanging out at the bar with their friend and co-worker Jessie (Chelsie Penner), who drinks so much that Stan often must take her car keys, is still a much-needed release for them.

When Cynthia accepts a plant manager position, Tracey becomes uncomfortable, and tensions arise.  The blame game begins, pitting neighbors against neighbors as victims, and everyone is forced to deal with a system that treats employees as trash.   Tracey takes her anger and frustration out on Colombian American bartender Oscar (Nilo Reynoso), who wants a better-paying plant job and is willing to work for less than union pay when others go on strike.

Director Longhofer, along with her insightful creative team, has created an assembly of actors that expresses the rich diversity and humanity of the playwright’s characters.   This well-cast ensemble breathes life into these characters, and audience members will find themselves caring about each of them.  There are powerful performances, especially from Saffold as the steadfast but weary Cynthia, Compton as her bitter friend Tracey, and Reynoso as the observant Oscar.   Their stage work is flawless.

Bartholomew and Wilson create such believable characters that you want to see them thrive and flourish, but they don’t seem to make the mark.  Penner’s stage work never fails, and she truly holds her own in this show.  Spurlock is incredible as Parole Officer Evan, and I always want to see more of him onstage.  Local favorite Williams really shines as drug addicted Brucie.   But I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off Maslen.  His strong portrayal of disabled Stan was perfect and remarkable.  His last scene brought tears to my eyes.

Stan Longhofer’s brilliant technical work is spot on, especially with the news projections of the period.  Julie and Stan’s set design gives this blue-collar hangout a retreat-like atmosphere.  Coleman Adams’ lighting design was immaculate, and Kirk Longhofer’s sound design is well-balanced and works well in this drama.

Remaining performances are April 3 and 4, 2026 at 7:30 pm and April 5 at 2:00 pm.  Tickets can be obtained by visiting https://ictrep.org

Next up for ICTRep is THE EXPLORER’S CLUB this summer.  Watch for further information.