You got a problem, you tell me to my face. A drunken Jessie is passed out at a table while Tracey and Cynthia dance; theyre clearly close with each other and with Stan, the bartender with whom they engage in flirtatious banter. As bars often are in old-fashioned and socially conscious dramas like Sweat, this one is a microcosm for a larger world. Ms. Nottages sympathies clearly lie with the workers facing virtual if not literal extinction (there are swipes taken at the North American Free Trade Agreement), but the politics are embedded so deeply in the drama that we never feel the playwright is distorting the plays trajectory to score sociopolitical points. The play examines the intersecting stories of workers on strike, three female friends who work together in a plant, and the generational differences between these workers and their sons, Chris and Jason. Brucie admits that he feels lost, and he recounts an incident of racism he recently experienced at the labor union. Started in 74, walked in straight outta high school. Tracey and Jessie show up and get into an argument with Cynthia, calling her a traitor. Not us. This poignant play takes a look at the de-industrial revolution through the lens of a history play, but also delves into the issues of today: the economy, immigration, race-relations in America, and politics. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. They built the house that I live in. The play also examines the ways working class Americans are often pitted against one another in their struggles for a better life. Chris and Jason rush off to Olsteads. Anger. Theatre lover and actor.
In September, Jason and Chris run into Brucie (whos clearly high) at the bar, and Chris shares how his childhood memories of Brucie leading other men in a walkout at the mill inspire him to stay strong and keep protesting.
PDF Sweat play by lynn nottage pdf However, Brucie tells him its pointlessChris should follow his dreams and get an education instead. (The unobtrusively on-target set is by John Lee Beatty, with costumes in the same vein by Jennifer Moeller.). Tracey comes into the bar while Oscar is in the back, and she tells Stan about how lost and humiliated she feels without a job. Teachers and parents!
Monologue - Tracey from Sweat - YouTube Right? The play is also set at a pivotal transitional time in American industry, when many longstanding factory jobs were outsourced to other countries (as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA). Call me selfish, I dont care, call me whatever you need to call me, but remember, one of us has to be left standing to fight. Sweat play by lynn nottage pdf SweatWritten byLynn NottageDate premiered2015 (2015)Place premieredOregon Shakespeare FestivalOriginal languageEnglishSettingReading, Pennsylvania Sweat is a 2015 play by American playwright Lynn Nottage. Jason is uncooperative when Evan asks him simple questions about his living situation and employment, and their tense interactions culminate in an argument wherein Jason yells racial slurs at Evan. urges her friends to meet them halfway unless they want to lose their jobs entirely. Though it is steeped in social combustibility, Sweat often feels too conscientiously assembled, a point-counterpoint presentation in which every disaffected voice is allowed its how-I-got-this-way monologue. Subscribe! Mothers, sons and Jessie work for the towns venerable steel tubing factory.
Lynn Nottage's "Sweat" Play Production | Free Essay Example Changing the subject, Oscar notes the loud party in the bar, and, the counter. Our experts can deliver a Lynn Nottage's "Sweat" Play Production essay. Management is for them. warns that peoples jobs could be outsourced to Mexico at any moment because of NAFTA. In the foreground of these scenes, set in a bar favored by workers at the local metal tubing plant, are three middle-aged women, fast friends who together have put in more than 60 years working machines on the factory floor. CYNTHIA: [] let me tell you something, once he started messing with that dope, I dont recognize the man. Cynthia: aeb Audition Material, Monologues. 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. Since the twenties, okay? Afterward, they go to the barwhere Jessie is once again passed out at a tableand excitedly tell Stan about it, but Stan isnt impressed. We can suggest monologues, just ask. Everyone complains about the factory, but the work it has provided for generations of Reading residents shapes the rhyme and reason of their shared world. The production team was the same as the Public Theater's, with the following change made to the cast: JESSIE .. Alison Wright 5 Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Federal TaxID#946139640, since 04-1967.
End: You go into the building, the walls are covered over with sheetrock, the wood painted gray, or some ungodly color, and it just makes me sad. The play returns to Jason and Chriss separate parole meetings with Evan in October 2008. Monologues are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. We encourage both theatre veterans (non-AEA) and newcomers to audition. Filming yourself from a hand-held camera will be fine. ISBN 978-1-55936-532-1 for edition reference. 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. For rehearsals and performances youll need a computer, a stable internet connection (at least 3 MBS upload speed), and a quiet performance space, preferably without windows. We ask that you provide your own costumes (contemporary tee shirts, baseball caps, bandannas), makeup, and props (beer and shot glasses, cigarettes, keys). Thats when Ms. Nottages characters, and the cast members who embody them, emerge in their full tragic humanity. Let it be enough to say that each actor locates the rich humanity in his or her character, and transmits it to the audience with deceptive ease. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Longtime friends Cynthia and, Stan comments on the successful nightlots of people turned out for. But Chris has his heart set on following his own pathits just something he has to do. Sweat is located in Reading, Pennsylvania, one of Americas poorest cities with a poverty rate of over 40%. STAN: Look.
Character building in 'Sweat' - aesantana Complex matters of race, class and culture are handled with impeccable deftness. I do. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. She had unwisely let her ex-husband, Brucie (Kevin Kenerly), move back in for a few days around the Christmas holidays, only to wake up on the morning itself and find half the presents under the tree gone as well as her fish tank. I dont know why. There is a rich eloquence in his inarticulateness that this well-spoken play could use more of. Sharp and threatening as a box cutter bladeferociously engrossingSWEAT never feels less than authenticand crucial. Deadline.com. Oscar tells Tracey that him working at Olsteads isnt personal, but Tracey counters that to her, it is personal. PERFORMANCE FEE: $130 per performance. She is upset that her friend. It is August 4, 2000. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists, See more monologues from
His former friend, the African-American Chris (Tramell Tillman), by contrast, has discovered the sustaining solace of religion, and hopes to get his life back on track by taking up the college studies he was forced to abandon. The parolees are Jason (Will Pullen) and Chris (Khris Davis), and they were once the closest of friends. Forget all that. Lynn Nottage (born November 2, 1964) is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black.She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for her play Ruined, and in 2017 for her play Sweat.She was the first (and remains the only) woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times. CHRIS: Dude, its just something I gotta do. Jacking aint for softies! But they know they can always find somebody willing to get their hands sweaty. 308 qualified specialists online. Lynn Nottage explains how a broken city gets a turn onstage in her play Sweat.. Management is trying to cut wages and benefits, and despite Cynthias protestations and pleas on her friends behalf, she feels her concerns are being ignored. John Earl Jelks SWEAT was originally produced on Broadway at Studio 54 by Stuart Thompson and Louise L. Gund, premiering on March 26, 2017. Sweat, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Lynn Nottage, gives stellar examples of successful characterization. Keenly observed and often surprisingly funnybut ultimately heartbreakingthe work traces the roots of a tragedy with both forensic psychological detail and embracing compassion. Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage spent two years visiting Reading, Pa., to research her new play. However, we pay actors a small stipend for expenses and a portion of performance donations in accordance with AB5. Lynn Nottage, Tracey is outside the bar smoking. New York, NY, Escape To Margaritaville
The play flashes back to July 2000. Mary Mara, left, as Tracey, and Portia as Cynthia in "Sweat," Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama at the Mark Taper Forum about a factory town in Pennsylvania. So were Jasons mother, Tracey (Johanna Day), and Chriss mother, Cynthia (Michelle Wilson). If you don't have a resume, just put down whatever experience you feel might be applicable. The breakup of Jessies marriage has driven her to imbibe more than usual, although Tracey doesnt feel too sympathetic, having weathered her own failed marriage. No thank you. There will always be someone wholl step in, unless we say NO! But members of the audience may find themselves getting a little moist with anxiety as this extraordinarily moving drama hurtles toward its conclusion with the awful inevitability of Greek tragedy. He went through hell when his plant locked him out, I understand, but I cant have it. And this thoughtful, careful play only seldom acquires the distance-erasing passion of Ms. Nottages Ruined, the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner about female casualties of the Congolese civil war. 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. So does the fact that it marks the belated Broadway debut of Ms. Nottage, a justly acclaimed dramatist of ambitious scope and fierce focus. In 2000, Tracey and her best friends, Cynthia and Jessie, have worked at Olstead's Steel Tubing in Reading, Pennsylvania, for over 20 years.
Dramatists Play Service, Inc. And to describe the play as a trenchant and insightful analysis of the consequences of the sharp decline in factory work in the country, and the gutting of once-mighty unions, may make it sound like a hortatory tract aimed at raising awareness of the human blight these trends have caused. Its a paradox given beautiful life when Ms. Days Tracey, after angrily lecturing Oscar outside the bar, relents and gives him the cigarette he had asked for earlier; and when Tracey and Cynthia, now at loggerheads, share a memory of an eventful trip to Atlantic City. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Shes is upset that Cynthia seems to be ignoring her and sucking up to management. "Sweat" is by no means a thinly dramatized op-ed piece. Ms. Nottage did intensive research for this play, and it shows, perhaps more than it should. I hope I was able to introduce you to more monologue material! Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of Sweat by Lynn Nottage. Stan falls, hits his head on the bar, and lies bleeding on the ground. That Cynthia is black and Tracey and Jessie are white becomes an issue in a way it never was before. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Sweat is a two-act play written by Lynn Nottage. Just as Oscar goes to take some beer crates to the back, Oscar walks back in, looking uncomfortably at, Olsteads isnt Oscars faulthes only trying to make a living just like they are. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! He encourages both men to let go of their shame and self-blame and to meet up with each other to talk. Brucie warns them that no machines means no jobshe thinks theyre about to be in the same situation hes in. Im cool with everyone. I don't want this to be a big deal. I know its tough out there, I understand. Both men have recently been released from jail, though the play does not immediately reveal why they were imprisoned. STAN (Shouts): What the fuck do you want him to do? A week later, Chris, Jason, and other union members protesting on the line get into a physical fight with the Latinx temp workers at Olsteads. Learn more. Sweat by Lynn Nottage marlenaeckel March 13, 2020 Drama, Medium, Men, Monologue, Short, Women Monologue, Monologues, Theater, Theatre What is it about? When the play reaches its climax, we feel so swept up in the fracturing lives of the people onstage that the distance between that world and the real one it reflects with such searing precision has all but collapsed. Cynthia, who lost her house and now works irregular hours at maintenance jobs, is warm and tearfully apologetic to Christhough Chris doesnt think she has anything to be sorry for. It is clear that both men are using Oscar as a scapegoat projection for the fear, failure, and disappointment they feel. You dont know what its been like to walk in my shoes. Note: We are restricted by licensing concerns to casting to type. A couple of weeks later, Jessie waits alone at the barTracey, Cynthia, Jason, and Chris are all late to her birthday celebration. Ernestine Crump Crumbs from the Table of Joy 0 Start: Because mostly I feel rage. CYNTHIA: More money. They built this town. The way the content is organized, Tracey is a middle-aged white woman of German descent; shes. Scene 3. The two women begin talking about recent changes at Olsteads: theres an open position for Warehouse Supervisor, and to Traceys surprise, Cynthia is thinking of going for the job. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Presiding over Traceys informal birthday party and the subsequent, less festive birthdays of Jessie and Cynthia is Stan (Jack Willis), the bartender, though not the owner of the bar. [] Im not prejudice, I say, you are who you are, you know? From first moments to last, this compassionate but cleareyed play throbs with heartfelt life, with characters as complicated as any youll encounter at the theater today, and with a nifty ticking time bomb of a plot. Three exemplary charactersTracey, Cynthia, and Jessieare all working class . Posted in Auditions. Your computer should open a new tab with the monologue.
Tracey's Monologue from Sweat | StageAgent before June 20 (sooner the better) and well set up a Zoom appointment or work to find other accommodations. Weve just come Start: Every since her father hung himse Start: Cynthia shares Chriss news about Albright, and Brucie disapproves of the tuition cost and of Chris leaving Olsteads. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Try it free. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Both Tracey and Jessie feel betrayed by Cynthia. Tracey Sweat 1 All monologues are property and copyright of their owners. He advises them to take any concessions that are offered to prevent a lockout from happening. They also discuss Freddy Brunner, an acquaintance who recently burned his own house down. We dont really. Tracey and . But they are passages that turn those delivering these monologues into social case studies, a status that the bluntly drawn performances do not always combat. Refine any search. Whatd he ev Start: Yeah? PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. We ask that you familiarize yourself with the story to prepare your audition. Such talk brings out Darwinian survival instincts, especially once Cynthia gets a job in management at the factory. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Hes an avuncular type who keeps the peace when necessary, with the help of his Dominican bar-back, Oscar (Carlo Albn). Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Jason and Chris speak separately to their parole officer, Evan. Upgrade to PRO
Aspirations to another life may be common among these people, but such hopes are widely resented when they show signs of becoming reality. The issues this drama raises painfully timely ones, I hardly need add surface organically from the circumstances. Time commitment: Up to 15 hours directed rehearsing (max 5 rehearsals), 4-8 .
Eventually, everyone but Tracey shows up, and Cynthia and Jessie reminisce about their early days at the factory. Well, my familys been here a long time. endstream
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Waking up, going to the factory, working all day, and coming home. But, a chaotic fight ensues. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. But, unbeknownst to them, their lives are about to be uprooted. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Im not prejudice, but thats how things are going these days. CYNTHIA: I didnt expect you to understand, babe. In the bar, Stan and Oscar stand by as Tracey, Chris, Jason, and Jessie angrily demand Cynthia to tell them whats going on. On July 4, Chris and Jason run into Brucie at the bar, and they tell him that Olsteads moved three mills out of the factory over the holiday weekend. Along with the rage, despair and violence, theres humor and abundant humanitya cautionary tale of what happens when you dont know how to resist. Time Out NY. Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. Now, the company has posted a list of names on the front door, and Chris and Jason are in a hurry to go see it for themselves. Stan is now severely disabled with a traumatic brain injury; he struggles to hear or speak. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Brucie ends up begging Cynthia for another chance, but she stays strong with Tracey and Jessies support. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. (including. [1] It won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. But to get to the heart of the matter: Sweat opens with scenes set in 2008, depicting a parole officer (Tyrone Wilson) in meetings with two ex-convicts, imprisoned for their involvement in the same crime, who have come through the system with deeply divergent results. Sweat examines the changing lives of factory workers in Reading, Pennsylvania, between the years of 2000 and 2008. TRACEY: [] It was back when if you worked with your hands people respected you for it. Some of these, such as Traceys speech about the devaluing of manual labor, have a poignant lyricism. to learn more about this monologue from Sweat and unlock other amazing theatre resources! Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! TRACEY: [] I know the floor as good as Cynthia. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. Esther Intimate Apparel 3 Then, Chris reveals that hes been accepted to Albright Colleges teaching program, which shocks Jasonthey both work on the floor at Olsteads, and Jason always assumed they would retire and open a business together. The following month, Brucie sits at the bar and confides in Stan about the lockout at his textile mill, which has been going on for nearly two years.
Sweat by Lynn Nottage Plot Summary | LitCharts Start: Yeah? Tracey, a middle-aged white woman who works at the local Olstead's Steel Tubing plant, is adamant that German immigrants like her grandparents built Reading from the ground up and made it what it is today. You dont want to go down that road, weve got too much history between us. Huh? MONOLOGUE: Sweat Cliff Rooks 32 subscribers Subscribe 1.6K views 5 years ago This is a monologue from the play "Sweat" by Lynn Nottage We reimagined cable.
Stan comments that this does sound like, The conversation then turns to the promotion to Warehouse Supervisor that Cynthia and. However, Cynthia is adamant that she cant give up the opportunity shes been given; Tracey and Jessie dont understand what its like to walk in her shoes. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. In Sweat, which opened on Sunday night at Studio 54, the feeling of familiarity that pervades the plays central setting gradually shades into contempt among those who drink there for themselves, for one another and for the life they cannot escape. for only $13.00 $11.05/page. First and only job. var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; Review: Sweat Imagines the Local Bar as a Caldron, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/26/theater/sweat-review-broadway.html, From left, John Earl Jelks, Carlo Albn, Johanna Day, Michelle Wilson and Allison Wright in the play Sweat., From left, Johanna Day, Khris Davis, Carlo Albn and Will Pullen in Sweat.. Cynthia and Tracey worry that Jessies problem with alcohol could get her fired. Instant PDF downloads. While they talk, Oscar comes into the bar to get his things from the back and say goodbye to Stan just as Tracey comes out of the bathroom. She tells him that she and Tracey no longer speak after everything that happened. Stan warns Oscar that he is putting himself in a dangerous position and stirring animosity among longtime employees. There is little doubt that when the rage festering among them fully erupts, no one will emerge unscarred. "They white,". Instant downloads of all 1725 LitChart PDFs Want new monologue material three days a week? Actors Ensemble of Berkeley is delighted to acknowledge the Berkeley Civic Arts Program and Civic Arts Commission's support in the form of a grant of $8,000.00 awarded in 2017. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. No one saw that coming. A few days later, Chris goes to the bar, where Oscar is now the manager. He thinks Jason and Chris should move on and get out of Reading. 3) If you have trouble submitting or are unable to film yourself, dont worry. Were a team, you cant leave!! Then, Cynthia, Tracey, and Jessie enter, and Brucie harasses Cynthia until she agrees to talk to him. So did Stan (James Colby), the bartender, but he lost his job after a leg-maiming accident. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better.
Lynn Nottage Monologues | StageAgent Lynn Nottage explains how a broken city gets a turn onstage in her play "Sweat." There are rumors of imminent layoffs, though, which grow louder during the scenes set in 2000, along with.
Hugging. Couldnt handle the stress. You can also copy the link and paste it in your browser.
So does the presence of Stans helper, Oscar (Carlo Albn), whose family comes from Colombia. Tracey brings up an overseer job opportunity at Olsteads and the rumor that management intends to promote someone off the factory floor. She tells Oscar that Olsteads isnt for you.. And theyre right. Just as Jessie is vulnerably sharing her unrealized dreams of seeing the world as a young woman, Tracey bursts in. Nottage never tells us whos right or whos wrong, but always shows us whos human. New York, NY, SM for Poor Yella Rednecks
She asks Chris to tell her what happened back then, because she still doesnt understand. Jason has come to beg Tracey for money, but shes hostile and unwelcoming. Well loan you a green screen if you need one. More heat. However, Tracey is adamant that German immigrants like her own grandparents built the town. In fact Id hold him down for you to give him a proper beating, but Oscarhes another story. Cynthia sits alone in the bar, fantasizing about going on a .
(Both Chris and Jason, not incidentally, also work at the plant, although Chris has higher aspirations.)
MONOLOGUE: Sweat - YouTube They built the house that I live in. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles.
Sweat Act 2, Scenes 1-3 - eNotes.com At the same time, all the characters in Sweat are given to elaborate passages of exposition, laying out the histories of their families, their employers, their city. STAN: Says he got wind that they were gonna cut back his line at the plant. When Oscar returns, she hurls racial slurs and goes to lunge at him, but Stan holds her back. Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season
TRACEY: Yeah? Girl, hes a loser. Sweat Character Tracey Gender Female Age Range Adult, Mature Adult Style Dramatic Act/Scene Act One, Scene Five Time & Place April 2000, Outside a bar Length Long Time Period Contemporary Show Type Play Tags worker working class memory nostalgia family legacy emotional Context Tracey is outside the bar smoking.