Review by Neal Newman
March 13, 2023
The thrilling performance of SWEAT by Lynn Nottage, currently playing at Old Academy Players, is not quite the play the author intended. Some works become startlingly more relevant as time passes. Nottage began the play in 2011 when she discovered that Reading, Pennsylvania, was considered the poorest town in the country. What was once a thriving, diverse lower to the middle-class community had lost its relevance and drive. The reason was the closing of the factories that, for generations, had been the reason for the town’s existence. The current generation was lost, confused, and angry. Once fueled by cigarettes, booze, and an occasional crime, the town started exhibiting hidden racism and class resentment.
Today, as our country becomes more divided with talk of civil war in the air, the play unintentionally becomes the MAGA handbook. Those of us in our blue bubble ask: “Why do these people think this way? How can a young man who grew up with a black best friend have a swastika tattooed on his face? Why do so many people in the rust belt feel so abandoned and unheard?”
Lynn Nottage is too brilliant an author to write a political tract. She tells the elemental story of a society of genuinely complex people, using a bar as a second home. They have given their working lives to SWEAT, that is, toiling in factories on their feet 10 hours a day, all the time hearing the din of heavy machinery. Their reward for this is an adequate living wage and maybe a few dreams, such as owning a small house, traveling to Atlantic City, or attending evening classes. Take all of that away, and anger and shame will result. As the first act progresses, it becomes clear that the factory employing generations of townspeople will close.
The bartender, Stan (Jerome Michael Neville), is the oldest character and is the third generation working in the factory. He put in 28 years before an injury sidelined him. Now his job is more to referee. Next are three women, two white and one black. They have put in over 20 years each at the factory and joined “the floor” right out of high school. Jesse (Leah O’Hara) has a drinking problem brought on by a failed marriage but remembers dreams of one day seeing the world. Tracy, (Nancy Vander Zwan) experiences back pain brought on by the work that will soon lead to opioid addiction. Cynthia (Nyiema Lunsford), who is black, also has two decades on the floor but suddenly has the opportunity of moving up to management. This causes enormous resentment from her two best friends, who wonder if the promotion is black tokenism. Cynthia fears that she might have been set up to be a scapegoat if the factory moves to Mexico.
Next are the young people who join the floor right out of high school. Jason (Nolan Maher) loves the income and hopes to save for a motorbike. His black best friend Chris (Joe Henderson) has bigger dreams of escaping the town and becoming a teacher. At the bottom of the food chain is Oscar (Juan Caceres), a gentle and quiet Latino man who everyone ignores as he performs the menial tasks that no one else will do. If a strike develops, he hopes to achieve the dream of factory employment when management is forced to hire him. Suddenly immigrant rage rears its ugly head.
The author adds a ticking time bomb to create suspense. In the first scene, set 8 years in the future, we realize that a horrible act of violence has occurred, and we wait for it to develop in the flashbacks. As a parole officer, Marc Johnson gets to deliver the author’s message in the final moments.
Brilliant plays seem to bring out the best in actors, and this ensemble, directed impeccably by Nancy Ridgeway, rises to the script’s demands. An ensemble performance as good as this one is difficult to achieve. Congratulations. The setting by Carla Childs and Ridgeway is tiny but effective, as are the lighting and sound by Steve Hnatko. The costumes gathered by Ridgeway and Vander Zwan, are a triumph of lower middle-class bible belt design. The highest praise one can give the cast is that if you sit in the first three rows, you feel that you are ACTUALLY IN THE PUB overhearing the natural conversation of these remarkable yet ordinary people—Bravo, everyone.
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours 30 minutes with intermission.
SWEAT runs through March 19 at Old Academy Players, 3544 Indian Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA. Tickets can be obtained by calling 215-843-1109 or by visiting oldacademyplayers.org.
I saw this play on Sunday, and am so glad I did. The dialog was so authentic for the situation that I felt like I was in the bar with the characters. The acting was superb. Neal’s review was so accurate! Thank you for bringing this gem to the theater and making me aware of it.
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