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Sweat
In one of the poorest cities in America, Reading, Pennsylvania, a group of down-and-out factory workers struggles to keep their present lives in balance, ignorant of the financial devastation looming in their near futures. Set in 2008, the powerful crux of this new play is knowing the fate of the characters long before it's even in their sights.
Based on Nottage's extensive research and interviews with real residents of Reading, Sweat is a topical reflection of the present and poignant outcome of America's economic decline.
Based on Nottage's extensive research and interviews with real residents of Reading, Sweat is a topical reflection of the present and poignant outcome of America's economic decline.
112 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2017
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About the author
Lynn Nottage
32 books216 followersLynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of marginalized people. She is a professor of Playwriting at Columbia University. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice; the first in 2009 for Ruined, and the second in 2017 for Sweat.
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August 15, 2017
As I return from vacation, my personal Pulitzer reading challenge has resumed. This year's Pulitzer winner for drama is Sweat by Lynn Nottage. Nottage is the first woman to win the award for playwrights twice and has won multiple awards for her work. Set near her hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania, Sweat details the life of a close knit group of friends who have been affected by their factory closing, ending the only way of life the town has known for generations.
Nottage has the drama play out over eight years. Leading into each scene she includes the political and social climate of the day in order to get a feel for what blue collar workers are going through. Most of the protagonists work at Olstead's plant as line workers, gaining employment out of high school just as their parents and grandparents had before them. Working at Olsteads is a rite of passage as marrying someone who one meets on the job. Despite the dangers of working in such conditions, it is still the best job for someone with a high school education, and parents working the lines continue to pull for their teenage kids to get into the factory.
We encounter the group at a bar after work, the same bar they have been going to for the past twenty five years. It is 2000 and despite the tensions of an election year, no one seems to care who wins; ditto the fact their basketball team could win the championship. The main protagonists Cynthia, Tracey, and Jessie have the sole focus of earning a paycheck and having enough to pay the bills. Cynthia and Tracey have both applied for a management job and this has caused some friction between the old friends as well as between their sons Chris and Jason. Both Cynthia and Chris have motivation to leave the factory, whereas Tracey and Jason are content with their station in life.
Nottage plays the race card as she has Cynthia who is African American earn the promotion over Tracey who is Caucasian. Even though Cynthia has rightfully earned her job, it is still a sore point for Tracey. Meanwhile with NAFTA becoming a reality, Olstead would like to move the jobs to Mexico. Workers strike and Oscar, an American born Hispanic crosses lines and earns employment in the interim. He is hard working as he also works at the bar and the women glare at him as a spic traitor on a nightly basis. Oscar is as American as the others yet the women who have sweated on the job as third generation employees resent him taking their pay.
Sweat is a microcosm of a community and how jobs moving overseas have affected Americans from all walks of life. The drama was filled with tension and many talking points. I appreciated hearing about the political and social situations so I knew what the protagonists were dealing with on a daily basis. Lynn Nottage has created a masterful play that I am sure would be powerful to see performed on stage. She is deserving of her accolades and awards and I am excited to see what she will produce next.
Nottage has the drama play out over eight years. Leading into each scene she includes the political and social climate of the day in order to get a feel for what blue collar workers are going through. Most of the protagonists work at Olstead's plant as line workers, gaining employment out of high school just as their parents and grandparents had before them. Working at Olsteads is a rite of passage as marrying someone who one meets on the job. Despite the dangers of working in such conditions, it is still the best job for someone with a high school education, and parents working the lines continue to pull for their teenage kids to get into the factory.
We encounter the group at a bar after work, the same bar they have been going to for the past twenty five years. It is 2000 and despite the tensions of an election year, no one seems to care who wins; ditto the fact their basketball team could win the championship. The main protagonists Cynthia, Tracey, and Jessie have the sole focus of earning a paycheck and having enough to pay the bills. Cynthia and Tracey have both applied for a management job and this has caused some friction between the old friends as well as between their sons Chris and Jason. Both Cynthia and Chris have motivation to leave the factory, whereas Tracey and Jason are content with their station in life.
Nottage plays the race card as she has Cynthia who is African American earn the promotion over Tracey who is Caucasian. Even though Cynthia has rightfully earned her job, it is still a sore point for Tracey. Meanwhile with NAFTA becoming a reality, Olstead would like to move the jobs to Mexico. Workers strike and Oscar, an American born Hispanic crosses lines and earns employment in the interim. He is hard working as he also works at the bar and the women glare at him as a spic traitor on a nightly basis. Oscar is as American as the others yet the women who have sweated on the job as third generation employees resent him taking their pay.
Sweat is a microcosm of a community and how jobs moving overseas have affected Americans from all walks of life. The drama was filled with tension and many talking points. I appreciated hearing about the political and social situations so I knew what the protagonists were dealing with on a daily basis. Lynn Nottage has created a masterful play that I am sure would be powerful to see performed on stage. She is deserving of her accolades and awards and I am excited to see what she will produce next.
September 10, 2018
Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer-winning play Sweat is set in a bar in Reading, Pennsylvania, and shines a light on the once-unionized manufacturing base of America’s industrial engine, once corporations moved operations abroad. The play closed on Broadway in June 2017 after a successful run off-Broadway and around the country.
Reading, Pennsylvania, I read somewhere, had one of the fastest de-industrializations and became one of the poorest cities in America. Factories did not give advance notice of their closings, but overnight moved equipment overseas and locked their doors. Workers and management--with mortgages, loans, lives--were just plum out of luck.
Nottage shows us a period of eight years at the beginning of the new century when rumors swirled about closing down some lines—like they perennially did. But the management team was still hiring, and even pulled an African American woman up from the line to give a visual--some sense of upward momentum and overlap between the workers and the higher ups.
Then came the screws: shorter hours, lower pay—a forty percent pay cut—or nothing. Advertisements written in Spanish lured strike breakers while the union held firm.
Eight years later everything has changed. The factory has closed and the workers we’d seen at the start are battling various addictions—alcohol and opioids…the usual. The woman who had moved into management had several menial jobs, altogether not paying what she’d made before.
I especially liked the way Nottage placed familiar points of view or attitudes in the mouths of her characters. The bartender Stan asks a question many have asked: Why don’t you leave this beat-up town where you have only a history and no future?
A poem by Langston Hughes is epigraph to this play, and it seems especially appropriate in these times:
Nottage previously won a Pulitzer for Ruined, a play originally conceived as a Bertolt Brecht Mother Courage adaptation and set in a brothel-bar in the Congo. Both sides of Congo’s post-colonialist civil war, soldiers and rebels, choose their night’s pleasure from among the same prostitutes. The more Nottage understood through interviews the horrors of what happened there, the less she could apply the Brecht template and instead created a wholly original work.
Pick up, or better yet, go see one of her plays--she is among our finest artists at work today.
Reading, Pennsylvania, I read somewhere, had one of the fastest de-industrializations and became one of the poorest cities in America. Factories did not give advance notice of their closings, but overnight moved equipment overseas and locked their doors. Workers and management--with mortgages, loans, lives--were just plum out of luck.
Nottage shows us a period of eight years at the beginning of the new century when rumors swirled about closing down some lines—like they perennially did. But the management team was still hiring, and even pulled an African American woman up from the line to give a visual--some sense of upward momentum and overlap between the workers and the higher ups.
Then came the screws: shorter hours, lower pay—a forty percent pay cut—or nothing. Advertisements written in Spanish lured strike breakers while the union held firm.
Eight years later everything has changed. The factory has closed and the workers we’d seen at the start are battling various addictions—alcohol and opioids…the usual. The woman who had moved into management had several menial jobs, altogether not paying what she’d made before.
I especially liked the way Nottage placed familiar points of view or attitudes in the mouths of her characters. The bartender Stan asks a question many have asked: Why don’t you leave this beat-up town where you have only a history and no future?
"Sometimes I think we forget that we're meant to pick up and go when the well runs dry. Our ancestors knew that. You stay put for too long, you get weighed down by things, things you don’t need…Then your life becomes the pathetic accumulation of stuff. Emotional and physical junk…."The level of confusion and desperation in this work turns the screws on viewers very effectively, but Nottage gets the rough language and behaviors exactly right. A kind of desperate race rage, though never spoken, is palpable. Then there is the open spoken rage against the corporation, against the machine, against the scabs…against the bartender, or anyone, anything in the way. A young immigrant does get in the way…
A poem by Langston Hughes is epigraph to this play, and it seems especially appropriate in these times:
“O, yesNote Hughes does not say Make America Great Again, but just make it again, live up to the principles upon which it was founded. It is less than that now.
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers,
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
—Langston Hughes
Nottage previously won a Pulitzer for Ruined, a play originally conceived as a Bertolt Brecht Mother Courage adaptation and set in a brothel-bar in the Congo. Both sides of Congo’s post-colonialist civil war, soldiers and rebels, choose their night’s pleasure from among the same prostitutes. The more Nottage understood through interviews the horrors of what happened there, the less she could apply the Brecht template and instead created a wholly original work.
Pick up, or better yet, go see one of her plays--she is among our finest artists at work today.
June 12, 2021
The writing’s on the wall, and we’re still out here pretending like we can’t read.
Set in Reading, PA, focused on the rust belt, Sweat is a play of characters. With 9 lead characters and two separate time occurrences, it requires attention to read, but it's worth every minute.
The show explores both the results of the 2000 NAFTA agreement moving jobs down to Mexico, and the political context of 2008's recession, all under the eyes of one big corporation that does not care: Olstead’s does not care. It's an underdeveloped area; the single high school in the town, Reading High, is not good. Juxtapositions with news reports add to a foreboding sense that this little town drama is simply a microcosm of so much worse outside.
As the characters fight and work with each other, we get invested in all of them, rooting for and against. I was consistently rooting for Chris, Cynthia, and Jessie, in particular, to find happiness. But throughout, there's also the constant sense that on some level, what is about to happen is inevitable. Freddy Brunner burning down his house repeats, recurring as a motif. The only true way to save the characters of Sweat would not be to stop their fight—it would be to fix the system that brought them here.
I really wish I had gotten the chance to see this on a stage. The reveals and character dynamics would have been amazing to see live.
Most folks think it’s the guilt or rage that destroys us in the end, but I know from experience that it’s shame that eats us away until we disappear.
Sweat is a complex play with a large cast. As such, I took the liberty during acting class of creating a timeline, with spoilers included, so if you want to avoid that, please do.
__
CAST LISTING
Chris = 21/29 african american, real mad at himself, wants to be a teacher and go to Albright in the 2000 timeline, son to Brucie and Cynthia.
Jason = 21/29 white, aryan brotherhood, Tracey’s kid
Cynthia = 45/53 african american, friend to Tracey. ambitious and has worked in the plant for 26 years, dedicated. mom to Chris.
Tracey = 45/53 white german, birthday, dyslexic, doesn't read the paper, husband died, working at the plant since ’74, mom to Jason. revealed that in the future she is drunk. sort of a thing with Stan. believes things never go right for her. expected to work here forever.
Jessie = 40s italian american, also friend to Tracey, has an ex husband Dan fucking a Tiffany. the peacekeeper of Tracey and Cynthia.
Brucie = 40s african american, ex to Cynthia, on dope, striking with the union, he stole her fish, attends aa meetings, Chris is their son
Stan = 50s white german, bartender, accident from the place. sort of a thing with Tracey. generally kind and caring to those around.
Evan = 40s african american, parole officer
Oscar = 22/30, columbian, also at the bar.
SCENE LISTING
Act One
s1 Oct 13 2008 Evan, Chris, Jason. Return from jail.
s2 ?? ?? 2000 Tracey, Cynthia, Jessie, Stan. Tracey’s birthday.
s3 ?? ?? 2000 Jason, Chris, Stan.
s4 ?? ?? 2000 Stan, Brucie, Tracey, Cynthia, Jessie. Union breaking.
s5 Apr 17 2000 Oscar, Tracey.
s6 May 05 2000 Stan, Jessie, Cynthia, Tracey. Jessie’s birthday, tension.
s7 Jul 04 2000 Chris, Brucie, Jason. Machines moved out.
Act Two
s1 Oct 13 2008 Tracey, Jason. Chris, Cynthia. Return from jail.
s2 Jul 17 2000 Cynthia, Tracey, Jason, Chris. Cuts announced.
s3 Aug 04 2000 Cynthia, Stan, Tracey, Jessie. Cynthia’s birthday, strike.
s4 Sep 28 2000 Jason, Chris, Stan, Brucie.
s5 Oct 07 2000 Oscar, Stan, Tracey. Oscar crosses the line.
s6 Nov 03 2000 Chris, Jason, Stan, Oscar, Tracey. Things go down.
s7 Oct 13 2008 Evan, Chris, Jason. This is EXCELLENT.
s8 Oct 18 2008 Oscar, Chris, Jason.
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November 27, 2025
نمایشنامهای کوتاه در باب فروپاشی طبقهی کارگر آمریکا و پیامدهای انسانی بحرانهای اقتصادی.
برنده جایزه پولیتزر 2017 نمایشنامه
نمایشنامهی عرق سرد میگه:
فروپاشی اقتصادی فقط ارزش پول را نابود نمیکند؛
روابط انسانی، هویت، امید، و اعتماد اجتماعی رو هم نابود میکنه.
طبقهی کارگر اگر همبستگی داشته باشند، میتونند در برابر سیستم بایستد؛ اما اگر به جان هم بیفتند، تنها بازندهٔ واقعی است و خب در انتها چیزی باقی نمیگذارد جز شرم آن هم بین افرادی که زمانی باهم دوست بودند!
از متن کتاب:
میدونی حسرت خوردن یه مرضه، و من از اون آدمهاش نیستم که حسرت بخورم. حسرت خوردن برای آدم نون و آب نمیشه.
برنده جایزه پولیتزر 2017 نمایشنامه
نمایشنامهی عرق سرد میگه:
فروپاشی اقتصادی فقط ارزش پول را نابود نمیکند؛
روابط انسانی، هویت، امید، و اعتماد اجتماعی رو هم نابود میکنه.
طبقهی کارگر اگر همبستگی داشته باشند، میتونند در برابر سیستم بایستد؛ اما اگر به جان هم بیفتند، تنها بازندهٔ واقعی است و خب در انتها چیزی باقی نمیگذارد جز شرم آن هم بین افرادی که زمانی باهم دوست بودند!
از متن کتاب:
میدونی حسرت خوردن یه مرضه، و من از اون آدمهاش نیستم که حسرت بخورم. حسرت خوردن برای آدم نون و آب نمیشه.
July 31, 2017
I broke down just reading this; I can imagine what it's like to see it performed. The anger, the resentment, the confusion, the bitterness are all so tangible. And so fresh in my mind. This play jumps between 2000 and 2008, mostly centered in a bar in Reading, PA, from just before W won the election into everything going to hell when the recession hit. The stage directions at the top of each scene are helpful in placing the reader in what's going on in the world, giving national and local headlines.
Some personal background: I graduated high school in 2007. Went to college for four years, the latter two of which I was working full time alongside going to school full time. By the end of that last year of school, on top of a ton of things I was so burnt out. Still haven't graduated, but that's a different story. Those two years were also spent working in a factory here in NE Ohio, so while I was getting said well-rounded education I also saw firsthand what it was like for people who've held the same job for 20+ years. We had temps roll in. I don't remember many of the old guard heading out when that happened, but I know those temps wanted to stay with us bad because it was a job. Our factory wasn't union, or if it was I didn't belong to it. I split in 2011 and have held two different jobs since then.
My point with the origin story is this: by the time I got into the full-time job market, the recession was already here. The anger and the bitterness, especially toward big business and immigrants trying to find work, is all I've really known from coworkers. This play provided me the look into how it was, maybe how it was always supposed to be -- what, as children, we were told it would be when we graduated and went to college and graduated again and figured out a "career". And I know that the people coming into the US weren't, and aren't, "stealing" anyone's jobs, that that's a complete myth that deserves no credence. But I also know how people are when they're suddenly desperate. Everyone wants to and has to blame something and someone. Doesn't make it right whatsoever. That's just the mentality.
And this play brings it all into full, raw being. It's really well-crafted. The dialogue is natural and you can feel the tension in the pages.
Some personal background: I graduated high school in 2007. Went to college for four years, the latter two of which I was working full time alongside going to school full time. By the end of that last year of school, on top of a ton of things I was so burnt out. Still haven't graduated, but that's a different story. Those two years were also spent working in a factory here in NE Ohio, so while I was getting said well-rounded education I also saw firsthand what it was like for people who've held the same job for 20+ years. We had temps roll in. I don't remember many of the old guard heading out when that happened, but I know those temps wanted to stay with us bad because it was a job. Our factory wasn't union, or if it was I didn't belong to it. I split in 2011 and have held two different jobs since then.
My point with the origin story is this: by the time I got into the full-time job market, the recession was already here. The anger and the bitterness, especially toward big business and immigrants trying to find work, is all I've really known from coworkers. This play provided me the look into how it was, maybe how it was always supposed to be -- what, as children, we were told it would be when we graduated and went to college and graduated again and figured out a "career". And I know that the people coming into the US weren't, and aren't, "stealing" anyone's jobs, that that's a complete myth that deserves no credence. But I also know how people are when they're suddenly desperate. Everyone wants to and has to blame something and someone. Doesn't make it right whatsoever. That's just the mentality.
And this play brings it all into full, raw being. It's really well-crafted. The dialogue is natural and you can feel the tension in the pages.
January 5, 2022
Having previously read and seen Crumbs From the Table of Joy and Intimate Apparel, this is my third Nottage play and thus far my favorite. Certainly it can hold its own against other solid "bar plays", and it's more compact and forceful than many (including the interminable The Iceman Cometh or The Time of Your Life with its massive cast). I suspect it plays well, and I love that there are good roles for middle-aged women, but I can see where a director who gives too much weight to the obvious foreshadowing - or a cast that plays particular conflict scenes too broadly - could sap it of potential. I plan to see it in production in March (go away, COVID!) from a very promising company and have super high hopes.
February 4, 2019
okay so I re-read this after seeing it over the weekend, and I'll leave my original review below but just know I was wrong because this is quite clearly one of the best plays to come out of America maybe ever. This is what tragedy looks like under 21st century capitalism. (I wrote some more here: https://harryrmcdonald.wordpress.com/...)
Yeah. I get why this won the Pulitzer. Dealing with socio- economic- political- ISSUES in contemporary America, in a sort of square play (not a bad thing necessarily.) I mean, it's really good. I wish it was slightly more playful with form, but it's really solid. Great ensemble piece.
Yeah. I get why this won the Pulitzer. Dealing with socio- economic- political- ISSUES in contemporary America, in a sort of square play (not a bad thing necessarily.) I mean, it's really good. I wish it was slightly more playful with form, but it's really solid. Great ensemble piece.
June 20, 2017
I read this play for a seminar I am taking this summer. This play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2017.
Set in 2000/2008 in Reading, PA, the play deals with tension among the factory workers. The play is set in a bar where the friends commiserate and discuss what is happening with their jobs including pay, promotions and management.
I read this in one sitting, but this one will definitely stick with me for some time. I wouldn't mind teaching this one. I think it is quite timely.
Set in 2000/2008 in Reading, PA, the play deals with tension among the factory workers. The play is set in a bar where the friends commiserate and discuss what is happening with their jobs including pay, promotions and management.
I read this in one sitting, but this one will definitely stick with me for some time. I wouldn't mind teaching this one. I think it is quite timely.
September 27, 2025
In a struggling Rust Belt town, Reading, Pennsylvania, Sweat follows a group of factory workers whose lifelong friendships begin to unravel as layoffs, promotions, and racial tensions ignite conflict. Set across two time periods—2000 and 2008—the play reveals how economic hardship and betrayal can fracture both community and identity.
This playwright has a strong voice for the complex nature of ordinary individuals amongst themselves.
it was an enjoyable read.
This playwright has a strong voice for the complex nature of ordinary individuals amongst themselves.
it was an enjoyable read.
June 2, 2017
FIRST LINE REVIEW: "So, you got a job?" Jobs are at the heart of this newest Pulitzer-winning drama. More specifically, the loss of jobs in 21st C. America. And the impact of job loss on the people struggling to transition from what they had to what they no longer have. I loved Nottage's last Pulitzer-winning play, "Ruined." LOVED it! Edgy, humorous, important, deeply moving. This new one? Not so much, I'm afraid. I was frustrated with the characters' lack of empathy and stubbornness. The quickness with which they could turn on life-long friends and the rather predictable ending. But what do I know? This play has racked up performances, garnered critical praise and awards. Mine languish in a drawer.
November 1, 2017
A quick, gripping read about the consequences for working-class people when longtime jobs disappear. I have a special interest in this one, because the setting (Reading, PA) is 5 minutes away from where I grew up. Nottage hits on something really important when she shows how racial resentment creeps into communities the moment the going gets tough, even if it never made much of an appearance before. This is a story of the moment (and of the last few decades), and definitely worth your time.
July 13, 2017
Oh, my! I sobbed as I finished reading the play - I can only imagine what it would feel like as an audience member...especially one who calls Berks County home, lived in Reading for the first 8 yrs of my life, and has family and friends who were affected by NAFTA and economic changes within the time period the play spans.
What is more interesting to ponder is to fast-forward 9 years from 2008, to our current year and circumstances. When you read this, especially if you are a native to the area, consider Oscar and his 2008 situation, his 2000 situation, and what, most likely, those like Oscar dwelling in Reading experience in 2017. Some of what the white and African American characters represented in this play experienced in 2000-2008 has equally hit the Hispanic population in this area since then.
Even more remarkable is that, from my experience, this play easily may be transplanted to any of outskirts of Reading in 2017. Whereas my work experience has been relatively unfazed over these years, I know many others who are still experiencing the effects of economic recession and the effects of NAFTA to this area. My "setting" isn't a bar - I "tend" a public library. The community where I live and work has many transient people dwelling here. The same frequenters of the bar setting in the play during the day descend upon our public service locale. One block away from where I work and catercornered to where I live is a former hotel, once a place of grandeur in this community, which houses those who are transient and indigent. Down the road a-piece is a correctional facility meant to reintegrate those who have been incarcerated, giving them a second chance at life and not one of recidivism. Many of the experiences of the characters play out in 2017 in our Berks' suburbs, which are no longer insulated from what residents of Reading have experienced.
This play has made a profound impact on me. It forces me to recognize the ills of this area (which could be in any former industry-laden, now drug-infested/crime-ridden/employment-devastated area of the country), in an historic sphere as well as a current-day perspective. Sometimes, even though we go through the motions of living in this arena day-in/day-out, we forget or ignore what is right in front of us. And, that is "Sweat".
It's unlikely I will see Nottage's "This is Reading" which is playing over the next three weekends at the train station in Reading. However, I hope those who go look to what they see as something worth fighting for and reversing the trend of depression to one of hope. And, to those of us who are fortunate enough to attend who live in the outskirts/suburbs/idyllic farm communities, please deeply weigh how much we may do to assist in reversing this trend. After all, it is for the benefit of all of us living in Berks.
What is more interesting to ponder is to fast-forward 9 years from 2008, to our current year and circumstances. When you read this, especially if you are a native to the area, consider Oscar and his 2008 situation, his 2000 situation, and what, most likely, those like Oscar dwelling in Reading experience in 2017. Some of what the white and African American characters represented in this play experienced in 2000-2008 has equally hit the Hispanic population in this area since then.
Even more remarkable is that, from my experience, this play easily may be transplanted to any of outskirts of Reading in 2017. Whereas my work experience has been relatively unfazed over these years, I know many others who are still experiencing the effects of economic recession and the effects of NAFTA to this area. My "setting" isn't a bar - I "tend" a public library. The community where I live and work has many transient people dwelling here. The same frequenters of the bar setting in the play during the day descend upon our public service locale. One block away from where I work and catercornered to where I live is a former hotel, once a place of grandeur in this community, which houses those who are transient and indigent. Down the road a-piece is a correctional facility meant to reintegrate those who have been incarcerated, giving them a second chance at life and not one of recidivism. Many of the experiences of the characters play out in 2017 in our Berks' suburbs, which are no longer insulated from what residents of Reading have experienced.
This play has made a profound impact on me. It forces me to recognize the ills of this area (which could be in any former industry-laden, now drug-infested/crime-ridden/employment-devastated area of the country), in an historic sphere as well as a current-day perspective. Sometimes, even though we go through the motions of living in this arena day-in/day-out, we forget or ignore what is right in front of us. And, that is "Sweat".
It's unlikely I will see Nottage's "This is Reading" which is playing over the next three weekends at the train station in Reading. However, I hope those who go look to what they see as something worth fighting for and reversing the trend of depression to one of hope. And, to those of us who are fortunate enough to attend who live in the outskirts/suburbs/idyllic farm communities, please deeply weigh how much we may do to assist in reversing this trend. After all, it is for the benefit of all of us living in Berks.
August 19, 2017
I've read and/or seen three earlier Nottage plays (Las Meninas, her first Pulitzer winner Ruined, and Meet Vera Stark), and enjoyed them all, so was excited to tackle her latest. Despite it winning ANOTHER Pulitzer, I found it somewhat of a disappointment - I mean, it's competent, but there is really none of the freshness in plot, subject, character or execution exemplified in her earlier work. It seemed derivative - kind of an amalgamation of Lindsay-Abaire's 'Good People' and 'Norma Rae'. And after reading it, I had no particular desire ever to see it performed, which is a bad sign in a play. I'm glad the astonishing 'Oslo' prevailed over it at the Tony Awards for Best Play this year.
June 13, 2017
Dialogue so real it hurts. This is a biting and fierce account of working-class America and how they survive.
Read
April 25, 2022I mean, I watched it roughly 75 times. I'm counting it. Wonderful play.
Read
October 23, 2022ok since my star system is based off of the amount of enjoyment i get from reading the book, and i read this book for school and not enjoyment - i’m not giving it a rating, i might after i’ve studied it.
a couple things
• why was i so invested in the end
• i am the number one stan supporter - my man did
nothing wrong ever
• i kinda wanted two of the characters to make up but i get why they didn’t
a couple things
• why was i so invested in the end
• i am the number one stan supporter - my man did
nothing wrong ever
• i kinda wanted two of the characters to make up but i get why they didn’t
June 10, 2021
Pulitzer prize for drama 2017, with productions in New York (The Public & Broadway) & London (Donmar & Gielgud) - a layered portait of workers in Reading, Pennsylvania, one of the poorest cities in America, set in 2000 & 2008. Meeting in a bar, friends and co-sufferers, conflicts and violence exploding when jobs are lost and workers replaced by temps. Depressing but vivid at the same time, with credible characters and dialogues.
June 27, 2018
I can understand why Nottage has won the Pulitzer Prize. The writing in this play is exquisite - sparse enough to allow productions creative license to make it their own, yet detailed enough for a reader to imagine everything that is going on. "Sweat" brings to life a small slice of Americana that has largely been ignored - the plight of blue-collar factory workers being screwed over by the fat-cat owners. However, the most poignant part of this play is the way Nottage focuses on the dire outcomes that come from the down-and-out being pitted against each other. The owners and administration of the factory do not appear in this play, but their back-handed dealings and manipulations of the community are the catalysts that move the story forward, creating an unseen, all-powerful character pulling the strings of everyone that is seen on stage. It is both heart-breaking and brilliant. I would love to see a production of this play.
September 18, 2018
I am planning to use this play in the Women in Theatre course I teach. I have used "Ruined" in the past and am excited about "Sweat" because it will be far more relatable for my students. I think the comparisons some reviewers are making between "Ruined" and "Sweat" are misguided. The context, characters and stories are vastly different and, aside from some common human characteristics, are really not comparable. "Sweat" is a fantastic examination of real peope in real situations which most people in the US rust belt can relate closely to. The juxtaposition with political events and realities is very effective. Our local theatre is mounting a production this season, and I am very excited to see it.
July 22, 2020
Wow. I want to see this play. Reading it felt exciting and sad and frustrating and hopeful and angry and.....and.....and a whole other list of feelings. The dialogue swims its way through deep currents of emotion and I felt like I was there, behind it all, in the wake of Nottage’s words.
I just read Ruined (another one of Nottage’s plays) and I’m glad I read it first. It’s great, but Sweat is better. This is a quick read and one that takes a small, but sharp section of American history and culture and tells its story mercilessly.
But mercy - that’s just it, by the end of the play, that’s just the thing. Or forgiveness, maybe. I love a terribly sad story that doesn’t give into the darkness.
Wow. Still feeling the Wow of this one. Might be for a bit longer....
I just read Ruined (another one of Nottage’s plays) and I’m glad I read it first. It’s great, but Sweat is better. This is a quick read and one that takes a small, but sharp section of American history and culture and tells its story mercilessly.
But mercy - that’s just it, by the end of the play, that’s just the thing. Or forgiveness, maybe. I love a terribly sad story that doesn’t give into the darkness.
Wow. Still feeling the Wow of this one. Might be for a bit longer....
June 15, 2017
So easy to see why this won the Pulitzer, Sweat captures the cultural zeitgeist of our country right now. If you want to understand why the election turned out the way it did or the cultural-racial divide of our country, this is the play to read.
March 14, 2022
fuck the plant, long live the bar
everyone deserved better
everyone deserved better
August 27, 2024
"Nobody tells you that no matter how hard you work, there will never be enough money to rest."
Sweat brings us back to a precarious moment in U.S. history: 2000-2008.
We're in steel country Pennsylvania. The .com bubble has burst, setting the stage for a tumultuous decade in the American economy. George W. Bush is president. The Twin Towers fall. Manufacturing leaves in droves under the shadow of NAFTA. Utility shutoffs more than double due to delinquency. McCain and Obama debate during the general election as citizens are advised by our government that, without a several hundred billion dollar bailout, darker days lie ahead.
In this span of eight years, we're introduced to eight characters, and we witness how their decisions will forever alter each other's lives, loves, and livelihoods.
Jason and Chris have been paroled from prison after nearly a decade.
Tracey and Cynthia, once best friends, are on opposite sides of the line during a plant shutout.
Jessie and Brucie struggle with sobriety.
Stan and Oscar, who man the bar, are just scraping by but are grateful for the work.
An altercation at the bar will wrap the lives of all eight of them into a socioecinomic headlock, one which catches us all breathless at play's end.
It is no wonder Lynn Nottage was recognized with the Pulitizer Prize not once, but twice. Sweat seats you at the bar next to the down-and-out during a time rife with uncertainty.
I don't know these people, but I know these people. Nottage brings them to life before drowning us all in the darkness and drunkenness that is the turn of the 21st century.
4 out of 5
Sweat brings us back to a precarious moment in U.S. history: 2000-2008.
We're in steel country Pennsylvania. The .com bubble has burst, setting the stage for a tumultuous decade in the American economy. George W. Bush is president. The Twin Towers fall. Manufacturing leaves in droves under the shadow of NAFTA. Utility shutoffs more than double due to delinquency. McCain and Obama debate during the general election as citizens are advised by our government that, without a several hundred billion dollar bailout, darker days lie ahead.
In this span of eight years, we're introduced to eight characters, and we witness how their decisions will forever alter each other's lives, loves, and livelihoods.
Jason and Chris have been paroled from prison after nearly a decade.
Tracey and Cynthia, once best friends, are on opposite sides of the line during a plant shutout.
Jessie and Brucie struggle with sobriety.
Stan and Oscar, who man the bar, are just scraping by but are grateful for the work.
An altercation at the bar will wrap the lives of all eight of them into a socioecinomic headlock, one which catches us all breathless at play's end.
It is no wonder Lynn Nottage was recognized with the Pulitizer Prize not once, but twice. Sweat seats you at the bar next to the down-and-out during a time rife with uncertainty.
I don't know these people, but I know these people. Nottage brings them to life before drowning us all in the darkness and drunkenness that is the turn of the 21st century.
4 out of 5
January 24, 2018
This play is certainly of its time; the scenes open with news-like recaps of what is going on socially and politically in America during the early 2ooos. However, the themes of the play are, tragically, timeless, and ones that have followed and will follow American history for years. This play is about a group of working class friends who are hit with the recession, and how, when the potential of poverty is in sight, allow racial discriminations to break them apart. The main setting, a bar, invites the audience into the play by presenting a welcoming atmosphere, and friendly banter and birthday parties gives the beginning of the play a familiar feel. Nottage doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable or the realistic, however, and Sweat is littered with moments of foreshadowing and buildup. It's worth a read if you love reading plays that are just as entertaining on the page as they are in person. (I'm assuming, I haven't seen it live).
January 20, 2022
I probably wouldn’t have picked this up if it wasn’t an assignment for a class, but even though the plot wasn’t something that grabbed my attention, the play was written incredibly well. The character’s voices and struggles were honest and it was a brutal look at working class America in the early 2000s.
December 31, 2024
LAST BOOK OF 2024!!!! did not have time to finish intermezzo yet…
fabulous play given to me by my dear friend eliza!! horrifying display of the violence of class mobility in the united states. reminded me quite a bit of the kentucky cycle or annie ernaux. i appreciated that it wasn’t too on the nose.
fabulous play given to me by my dear friend eliza!! horrifying display of the violence of class mobility in the united states. reminded me quite a bit of the kentucky cycle or annie ernaux. i appreciated that it wasn’t too on the nose.
March 25, 2024
Read aloud with students. Id give it a 5/5 for experience but the play itself a 4/5. It was so fun the kids were clamoring every day to be the ones to read various parts because they were so into it. The ending was just a little too abrupt for me but i liked it overall.
November 2, 2025
8/10. A brutal examination of the personal effects of labor automation and reduction, or, what happens to a town when its central employer seeks a better home. Also baked in to this svelte 112 pages are themes around race, immigration, substance abuse, and difficult family dynamics. Tough to read. Had me questioning my place in the world.
July 23, 2021
A truly powerful story that captures the economic crises of 2000 and 2008 by focusing on how that effects the working class. I rarely read dramas and chose this because I’m thinking about offering 21st drama choices (like a book club, but with plays) for my American Lit class and this might convince me to do it. Highly recommend. Now I need to find a performance of it to watch!
June 22, 2025
omg justice for stan😭😭😭😭😭 das erste und letzte aus meinem seminar war fr gut war, wird ein banger das morgen in der uni zu analysieren🤟🤟🤟
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