With warm humor and tremendous heart, Lynn Nottage's Sweat tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets and laughs while working together on the line of a factory floor. But when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in the hard fight to stay afloat.
Kate Whoriskey directs this stunning new play about the collision of race, class, family and friendship, and the tragic, unintended costs of community without opportunity.
In a way, this feels like a throwback to Depression-era drama. The depression, however, is ours. The urgency, the deep specifics of the characters make the conventional structure an essential, almost radical part of the storytelling. The relationships are so multilayered, the economic and cruel racial realities so clear that fancier stagecraft might just get in the way.
These are fully realized characters who, especially when acting on their worst fears, are grippingly human. Drawn in part from interviews the playwright and director conducted with workers in western Pennsylvania, Sweat never feels less than authentic - and crucial. That said, Sweat still suffers from preachiness and some stilted writing that raise the volume and add exclamation points where none are necessary. This seems to have worsened in the expansion to a Broadway house, where the speechifying, especially by Day's overwrought Tracey, too often registers as harangue. Too much hollering.
2016 | Off-Broadway |
New York Premiere at the Public Theater Off-Broadway |
2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2019 | West End |
West End Transfer Production West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Fight Choreography | U. Jonathan Toppo |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Lynn Nottage |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Johanna Day |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Michelle Wilson |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Sweat |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Kate Whoriskey |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Johanna Day |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Sweat |
2017 | The Pulitzer Prize | The Pulitzer Prize for Drama | Lynn Nottage |
2017 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance | Carlo Albán |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Johanna Day |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Michelle Wilson |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Lynn Nottage |
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