Generations dictated by the factory floor and the whims of American capitalism: A scene from Sweat, Lynn Nottages new drama, in a production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Jason has come to beg Tracey for money, but shes hostile and unwelcoming. Teachers and parents! It was a gift. Girl, hes a loser. In the bar, Stan and Oscar stand by as Tracey, Chris, Jason, and Jessie angrily demand Cynthia to tell them whats going on. The parolees are Jason (Will Pullen) and Chris (Khris Davis), and they were once the closest of friends. Well. He went through hell when his plant locked him out, I understand, but I cant have it. Fucking Wall Street. Sweat by Lynn Nottage Plot Summary | LitCharts Its a tragic story of everyday people struggling to pick up the pieces when their lives fall apart. Tracey Character Analysis in Sweat | LitCharts Though it takes place in 2000 and 2008, and one of its characters swears he will never vote again, Sweat is the first work from a major American playwright to summon, with empathy and without judgment, the nationwide anxiety that helped put Donald J. Trump in the White House. (The Nafta treaty is invoked with four-letter opprobrium.). Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Theatre lover and actor. Stan is cynical about the disrespectful management at the plant, where generations of his family and he himself worked before he lost part of his leg in a work accident. More trouble comes when rumors of layoffs begin swirling, and Cynthia finds herself caught between her duties as a manager and her sympathy with her friends in the union. Now, the plant is bringing in Mexican immigrants as temporary laborers. [] Im not prejudice, I say, you are who you are, you know? It makes mewhatever. But I meancmonyou guys coming over here, you can get a job faster than. passionate and necessarya masterful depiction of the forces that divide and conquer usSWEAT communicates its points with minimal fuss and maximum grit. Finally, Jason breaks and admits that he recently ran into Chris, whom Jason tried to forget while he was in prison. I don't want this to be a big deal. You dont know what its been like to walk in my shoes. He tells her that hes in a rehab program, which doesnt impress Cynthia. Cynthia spends her birthday alone in the bar, where she confides in Stan how stressed and guilty she feels about locking her friends (and her own son) out of the plant. Start: Yeah? The play flashes back to January 2000. 255 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<4E7A45B1E121404A9924C6C88D9A82A6>]/Index[239 26]/Info 238 0 R/Length 81/Prev 701207/Root 240 0 R/Size 265/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream If you don't have a resume, just put down whatever experience you feel might be applicable. CYNTHIA: [] You know after everything. The plot briefly shifts forward to 2008 with separate scenes of Jason and Chris visiting their mothers. The play returns to Jason and Chriss separate parole meetings with Evan in October 2008. going to renegotiate the floor workers contracts, and theyre prepared to fight for significant concessions. CYNTHIA: Fuck her. Oscar responds that he doesnt owe anything to people like Cynthia, Tracey, and Jessie because they never acknowledge his humanity: If they dont see me, I dont need to see them" (92). Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage spent two years visiting Reading, Pa., to research her new play. Its the year 2000 in Reading, Pennsylvania and a group of friends go to work at the steel mill and then decompress at the bar like theyve been doing for over 20 years. It was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2017 Obie Award for Playwrighting, and three 2017 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. CHRIS: Dude, its just something I gotta do. Sweat moves fluidly between these passages (and others set elsewhere but at the same time) and scenes from eight years before, when the bulk of the action takes place. The ensemble is exemplary, so uniformly excellent that I cannot point to a single performance as rising above the rest. If you would like to give a public performance of this monologue, please obtain authorization from the appropriate licensor. Sweat is located in Reading, Pennsylvania, one of Americas poorest cities with a poverty rate of over 40%. Ms. Whoriskey and Ms. Nottage drew on interviews with residents of Reading, Pa., ranked among the poorest cities in America, as part of their research for the play.
sweat lynn nottage tracey monologue
