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). You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists, See more monologues from However, Brucie tells him its pointlessChris should follow his dreams and get an education instead. STAN: Look. 3) If you have trouble submitting or are unable to film yourself, dont worry. Management is for them. Chris remembers his fingernails digging into his palms. Nottage never tells us whos right or whos wrong, but always shows us whos human. More heat. 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. Well loan you a green screen if you need one. (Both Chris and Jason, not incidentally, also work at the plant, although Chris has higher aspirations.) Actors Ensemble is an all-volunteer company. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), The Assembled Parties by RichardGreenberg, Follow The Monologue Blog on WordPress.com. Sweat Act 1, Scene 6 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts A few days later, Chris goes to the bar, where Oscar is now the manager. Oscar aint getting rich off your misery. Monologue - Tracey from Sweat - YouTube Tracey's monologue to Cynthia from Lynn Nottage's Sweat Tracey's monologue to Cynthia from Lynn Nottage's Sweat. There is little doubt that when the rage festering among them fully erupts, no one will emerge unscarred. PDF downloads of all 1725 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. Brucie, whose union has been locked out of the citys other plant for two months after the union balked at draconian pay cuts, has been hitting something harder than the bottle. TRACEY: [] It was back when if you worked with your hands people respected you for it. The four men uneasily wait for the next moment, together yet divided. Nobodys going anywhere. To laud them individually would require another review. You can also copy the link and paste it in your browser. The issues this drama raises painfully timely ones, I hardly need add surface organically from the circumstances. Tracey? Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. These scenes depict Tracey struggling with pill addiction, and Cynthia living in a small, cluttered, low-rent apartment. Whatd he ev Start: Yeah? Writing that cuts this close to the bone draws out the best in actors. Hugging. Tracey is a middle-aged white woman of German descent; she's Jason 's mother and Hank 's widow. The play was produced Off-Broadway in 2016 and on Broadway in 2017. 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. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. They built the house that I live in. Sweat by Lynn Nottage Plot Summary | LitCharts Aspirations to another life may be common among these people, but such hopes are widely resented when they show signs of becoming reality. It is clear that both men are using Oscar as a scapegoat projection for the fear, failure, and disappointment they feel. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. Tracey and the others are outraged. Try it free. var addy_text8a2f2e70f3ae0d82a8dceea5de10147e = 'auditions' + '@' + 'aeofberkeley' + '.' + 'org';document.getElementById('cloak8a2f2e70f3ae0d82a8dceea5de10147e').innerHTML += ''+addy_text8a2f2e70f3ae0d82a8dceea5de10147e+'<\/a>'; ASHLAND, Ore. Sweat, the title of Lynn Nottages scorching new play, refers to the hard labor that its characters have put in for decades, only to find their modest livelihoods threatened by the evaporation of manufacturing jobs in America. STAN: Says he got wind that they were gonna cut back his line at the plant. Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Both men have recently been released from jail, though the play does not immediately reveal why they were imprisoned. 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. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. He advises them to take any concessions that are offered to prevent a lockout from happening. endstream endobj startxref 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. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Tracey's rude behavior toward Cynthia is driving a wedge in their decades-long friendship. Its searing and human. Finally, Jason breaks and admits that he recently ran into Chris, whom Jason tried to forget while he was in prison. (including. A new box will appear. Thank you for checking out my post! Forget all that. Some of these, such as Traceys speech about the devaluing of manual labor, have a poignant lyricism. [] I betcha they wanted a minority. 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. Shes is upset that Cynthia seems to be ignoring her and sucking up to management. Im not prejudice, but thats how things are going these days. It was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2017 Obie Award for Playwrighting, and three 2017 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. 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. Cynthia shares Chriss news about Albright, and Brucie disapproves of the tuition cost and of Chris leaving Olsteads. Brucie ends up begging Cynthia for another chance, but she stays strong with Tracey and Jessies support. This is particularly hypocritical given that Tracey went for the same job and likely would have taken the promotion if she had been offered it. On the national news, George Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, is traveling in the Midwest. (LogOut/ In Reading, Pennsylvania a group of factory workers are living their lives. (The Nafta treaty is invoked with four-letter opprobrium.). CHRIS: Cmon. Want interviews with fellow actors? Oscar doesnt care, thougheveryone in Reading others him, so he feels no loyalty to them. Stan falls, hits his head on the bar, and lies bleeding on the ground. All is well, until economic turmoil hits. In fact Id hold him down for you to give him a proper beating, but Oscarhes another story. 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. We ask that you familiarize yourself with the story to prepare your audition. Since the twenties, okay? Just as Jessie is vulnerably sharing her unrealized dreams of seeing the world as a young woman, Tracey bursts in. Sweat is located in Reading, Pennsylvania, one of Americas poorest cities with a poverty rate of over 40%. Jason is hurt that Chris didnt tell him until now, and hes adamant that Chris cant leave Olsteads because theyre supposed to be a team. The parolees are Jason (Will Pullen) and Chris (Khris Davis), and they were once the closest of friends. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Jason has come to visit, shoulda though Chris doesnt think she has anything to be sorry about. These middle class, unionized, steelworkers have made plans to save money, go on vacations and then retire with a nice, healthy pension, but when rumors start flying that the company is considering layoffs, and flyers are hung to recruit non-union Latino workers for less money, the war between community and capitalism begins, and tensions start destroying not only jobs, but also relationships. Want new monologue material three days a week? For full extended monologue, please refer to clips or the script edition cited here: Nottage, Lynn, Sweat, Theatre Communications Group, 2017, p. 49. In February, at the same bar, Jason, Chris, and Stan have a playful conversation about the motorcycle Jason wants to buy and about Chriss new girlfriend while Oscar listens in. Couldnt handle the stress. Scene 3. Struggling with distance learning? Then, Cynthia, Tracey, and Jessie enter, and Brucie harasses Cynthia until she agrees to talk to him. Oscar, the often-ignored Colombian American busboy, escorts her to the bathroom. Im cool with everyone. JASON: [] All Im saying is that he needs to understand the price of that dinner hes putting on his table. Lynn Nottages Sweat gives us characters filled with the good and the bad and asks us to reflect on our own views and the views of others. Waking up, going to the factory, working all day, and coming home. 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. 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 April, Cynthia has gotten the promotion to Warehouse Supervisor, and she and her friends celebrate at the bar. She tells him that she and Tracey no longer speak after everything that happened. TRACEY: Listen, that piece of paper youre holding is an insult, it dont mean anything, Olsteads isnt for you. Though Chris initially attempts to calm Jason and prevent an eruption of violent anger, he joins Jason as he beats Oscar. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. 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). New York, NY, Escape To Margaritaville Sweat explores how industrial decline affected workers in the former steel and textile town. Well, my familys been here for a long time. It is foolish to underestimate the anger in places like these, as the most recent presidential election confirmed. 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. SWEAT is a blistering ensemble drama about lives and friendships devastated by the ongoing deindustrialization of working-class America. Brucie warns them that no machines means no jobshe thinks theyre about to be in the same situation hes in. They also discuss Freddy Brunner, an acquaintance who recently burned his own house down. When Oscar returns, she hurls racial slurs and goes to lunge at him, but Stan holds her back. CYNTHIA: [] You know after everything. Ive taken orders from idiots who were dangerous, or even worse, racist. She attributes Cynthias selection to tokenism. With the use of distinct dialog, actions, and belief structures for each of the characters, the characters (on paper and on stage) stand out as unique individuals that the audience can identify with. From first moments to last, this . Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Less work. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). But, unbeknownst to them, their lives are about to be uprooted. She is upset that her friend. Sweat examines the changing lives of factory workers in Reading, Pennsylvania, between the years of 2000 and 2008. Our experts can deliver a Lynn Nottage's "Sweat" Play Production essay. PDF SWEAT - Cold Reads/International 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. New York, NY 10016 I believe the arts should be fun and I just want to help my fellow theatre lovers in the neverending quest to find the perfect monologue! It makes mewhatever. It is August 4, 2000. Start: Yeah? Through their barroom conversation, the women reveal that Jason has no future plans beyond factory work, and Chris has been accepted to college. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Soon they are out of work and replaced by those who will work for less. Jessie (K. T. Vogt), passed out at a table in the corner, isnt exactly doing her part to celebrate the birthday of Tracey (Terri McMahon), who we eventually learn is Jasons mother. Sweat Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary You appreciate Ms. Nottages insistence that we be able to trace exactly the sources of her characters unhappiness. addy8a2f2e70f3ae0d82a8dceea5de10147e = addy8a2f2e70f3ae0d82a8dceea5de10147e + 'aeofberkeley' + '.' + 'org'; They built this town. However, Tracey is adamant that German immigrants like her own grandparents built the town. Sweat is the first, properly muscular play of the Trump era, directly addressing the political and cultural bedrock of his presidency: Nottage has already won the 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Note: We are restricted by licensing concerns to casting to type. Well. She asks Chris to tell her what happened back then, because she still doesnt understand. Sweat Act 2, Scenes 1-3 - eNotes.com Cynthia understands, but she asks Tracey not to make things about race, and she promises to let everyone know if she hears anything about the rumored layoffs. CYNTHIA: That rumors been flying around for months. The characters in this play dont have money or options and the walls are closing in fast, so for the SWEAT monologues were looking for raw yet vulnerable portrayals. 0 So does the presence of Stans helper, Oscar (Carlo Albn), whose family comes from Colombia. Review: As blue collar jobs leave a Pennsylvania town, Lynn Nottage's Stan comments that this does sound like, The conversation then turns to the promotion to Warehouse Supervisor that Cynthia and. Weve just come Start: Every since her father hung himse Start: Tracey encourages her son, escalating his confrontation into violence. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Welcome to the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley website! Review: 'Sweat' Imagines the Local Bar as a Caldron var addy8a2f2e70f3ae0d82a8dceea5de10147e = 'auditions' + '@'; 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. Tracey, Jessie, and Jason make racist slurs and comments at Oscar, and Jason stands up threateningly. Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season At this. [1] It won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. PDF Sweat play by lynn nottage pdf 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. In the bar, Stan and Oscar look on as. Sweat examines the changing lives of factory workers in Reading, Pennsylvania, between the years of 2000 and 2008. Jason grabs the baseball bat and hits Oscar in the stomach, and as he swings back to hit him again, he accidentally strikes Stan in the head. Huh? CYNTHIA: [] I dont deserve the things youve been saying. Lynn Nottage explains how a broken city gets a turn onstage in her play Sweat.. No thank you. 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. "Sweat" is by no means a thinly dramatized op-ed piece. Monologues are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. STAN (Shouts): What the fuck do you want him to do? Clearly, Tracey is acting out because she feels jealous of Cynthia and left behind by one of her oldest friends. 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. Jason and Chris meet one another at the local bar, where Oscar is now the manager. But this much-trafficked watering hole also exerts a dangerous gravitational force, the kind that holds people in place when they should be moving on. For that reason alone, the arrival on Broadway of Sweat, which originated at the fertile Oregon Shakespeare Festival and was previously staged in New York at the Public Theater, warrants serious applause. Tracey's Monologue from Sweat | StageAgent 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. 'Sweat' - Lynn Nottage scene: Daniel Oakley (JASON) and Aaron Moore (CHRIS) Daniel 'Joey' Isaac-Meir Oakley 125 views 8 months ago Another Round with SWEAT: Creating a Community On Stage. Tracey brings up an overseer job opportunity at Olsteads and the rumor that management intends to promote someone off the factory floor. John Earl Jelks SWEAT was originally produced on Broadway at Studio 54 by Stuart Thompson and Louise L. Gund, premiering on March 26, 2017. Though the women are friendly with Stan, they do not acknowledge Oscar as he works in the background. 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.