SWEAT to Open at Slippery Rock University During Homecoming

This Homecoming Week, SRU will present the Pulitzer Prize winning play Sweat by Lynn Nottage. Directed by SRU alum Malic Maat and his associate director, Rissa Williams, Sweat follows the lives of hard-working factory workers in Reading, Pennsylvania. This tight-knit group starts to fracture with the aid of a possible promotion, unionization, racial tension, and family conflict.

I was able to talk to the direction team about their experiences with this show and how it has come to be. Rissa Williams, both the associate director and Cynthia for the show, was able to give me a brief overview of how Sweat has come to our stage. Rissa shared that they originally presented to the Second Stage committee, 'I ended up like submitting this very, very detailed presentation of costuming and how we would budget everything and I was very like, meticulous about it. And had the interview and the interview- went like really, really well.' After not hearing anything official, unlike other presentations, some hope was lost till they were reached out for an extra follow up meeting. 'They ended up telling me that they loved it so much that they wanted to make it its main stage. I remember sobbing. [...] I remember being so like, so just like astounded that they trusted me, that they also wanted to do it.' The next step was then to find a director for the show.

Malic Maat a working Pgh actor, director, dramaturg and SRU alum, was then asked to be a part of this project. When I asked Maat about how working with Rissa has been, he said 'It's truly been a great joy having Rissa as an AD. Her passion for the play was evident from the moment we met. [...] It was like working with an old friend. I'm very proud of her growth and leadership during this process, and can't wait to see how she levels it up on her next project.' When asked how being an SRU alumnus has influenced this production Maat, says 'It's truly an honor to return to my alma mater to direct this play. I'm a proud alumni and seeing how much growth this department has had since my time has been really inspiring. [...] It was about much more than directing a play for me, but also having the space serve as an incubator for exploration and collaboration.'

I was then also able to ask Rissa how being associate director and playing Cynthia has been. They replied with 'A lot of people have been like, 'man, like how are you doing it?' Or like, 'oh I'm sure you're having so much fun.' And I think it's a bit of both of like, how the fuck am I doing this, but I am doing it. [...] once we kind of saw our auditionees, we saw what we needed, and he [Malic] actually brought up the idea to see what I would think about doing it. And I ended up having to fight for, if I'm going to do this role, then I also still want to direct. And that was, you know, me and Malic were butting heads, but he trusted me and saw my vision and also saw what I could do with the character, which it was like I had to double trust myself and like not only a land of, like, I can handle the directing and the acting, but I can do both and still give my full attention to either.'

Overall, I found in both of their responses they had some truly beautiful things to say about the cast and process. Maat said, when asked about the range of students in this production, 'This has actually been a very challenging but enriching piece of the puzzle, even for me. [...] I often told them that the spirit of the actor has no age or experience level, and that if they show up in the space with integrity and authenticity, they will fit right in.' Rissa has similar things to say when asked about how opening weekend being homecoming weekend has affected things. They said 'Honestly, I feel like we haven't even let it really fly by. We've done such a good job at, like, what's going on in Sweat has stayed inside of the container [...] we worked really hard for that and like, I will give almost everyone in that room credit for, like, really really working on, like, pushing out that noise and just letting that be outside.'

The cast of Sweat includes Mycah Harris as Evan; Connor McCracken as Jason; Jaden Mabin as Chris; Tristan Smith as Stan; Claire Elias as Oscar; Emily Beckman as Tracey; Rissa Brooke as Cynthia; Sabrina Cancelliere as Jessie; Cam Sims as Brucie. Understudies include Giovanni Clark, Aaron Gialames, Xavier Johnston, Cole Trieste, Mirco Alexander, Ceci Whiteamire, Madison Williams-Powell, and Vi Dixon.

The creative team includes: Rissa Brooke, associate director; Maggie Mitchell, stage manager; Jacob Maietta, assistant stage manager; Michael Boone, technical director; Alex Barnhart, assistant technical director; Sam Kuchta, assistant professor of theatre, scenic and lighting designer; Kat Larrick, Katelynn Handa, Avery Dunn, Lily Connor, Julia Nurenberg, Emma Hess, Tyler Pritts, Addison Rogers, Megan Sharma, and Wade Frye, scene shop assistants;

Samantha Hollerman, sound designer; Ryan Cole, sound board operator; Delaney Dzeskewicz and Emma Hess, propmasters; Cole Miller and Lucas Sotereanos, stage/props crew; Rebecca Morrice, professor of theatre, as costume faculty; Mary Hodson, costume coordinator; Breydi Johnson, Costume Designer; Julia Nurenberg, Zoie Wade, Belle Trask, Breydi Johnson, Jordan Rose, Lily Jo, Kayla Domenick, Milo Collins, Abby Depietropaolo, and Wade Frye, costume shop assistants; Max Milligan and Natalie Bowman as wardrobe crew; Jose Perez IV, fight choreographer; Cam Sims, fight captain; Kari-Anne Innes, assistant professor of theatre, public relations supervisor and box office coordinator; Brady Domingos, student box office manager; Cordelia Jenkins, Lee Short, Kadence Storms, and Nicholas Cox, box office student staff; Emily Dunlap, house manager; Sydney Korpusik and Annabeth Hunt, public relations staff; Mycah Harris, media designer; Giovanni Clark, dramaturg.