Sweat (TCG Edition)
by Lynn Nottage

BroadwayOff-BroadwayWest End
Sweat (TCG Edition)  Book Cover
Sweat (TCG Edition) Cover

Highlights

120 minsPresent DayRole(s) for Black Actor(s)Unit Set/Multiple SettingsContemporary Costumes/Street ClothesAmericanComedy

Why we like it

"Nottage won her second Pulitzer with this raw, compassionate look at a Pennsylvania factory town coming apart. Timely, tough, and beautifully crafted."

From: Our Picks

Awards & Recognition

Drama Critics CircleDrama Desk AwardEvening Standard AwardObie AwardOlivier AwardOuter Critics CirclePulitzer PrizeTony Award

Winner! 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Winner! 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner! 2017 Obie Award for Playwriting Winner! 2019 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play Evening Standard Theatre Award Nominee: 2017 Tony Award for Best Play Nominee: 2017 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play Nominee: 2017 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play Nominee: 2017 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play Nominee: 2019 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play

What readers are saying

Readers find Sweat to be a powerful exploration of class, race, and economic challenges faced by working-class communities in America. Many appreciate the authenticity of the characters and the way the play sparks important conversations about societal issues. The script is often described as gripping, relatable, and relevant, with a nuanced portrayal of personal and collective struggles.

Authentic and relatable charactersPowerful exploration of class issuesGripping and relevant scriptEnding felt abrupt for some

Synopsis

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Nominee for 3 Tony Awards including Best Play

“Lynn Nottage’s best work.

She offers a powerful critique of the American attitude toward class, and how it affects the decisions we make.

Sweat has fraternity at its heart, but also the violence, and the suspicion that can result from class aspirations.”

–Hilton Als, New Yorker

Lynn Nottage has written one of her most exquisitely devastating tragedies to date.

In one of the poorest cities in America, Reading, Pennsylvania, a group of down-and-out factory workers struggle to keep their present lives in balance, ignorant of the financial devastation looming in their near future.

Based on Nottage’s extensive research and interviews with residents of Reading, Sweat is a topical reflection of the present and poignant outcome of America’s economic decline.

Lynn Nottage is the recipient of two Pulitzer Prize Awards for Drama for Sweat and Ruined

.

She is the first woman playwright to be honored twice.

Her other plays include Intimate Apparel

; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine

; Crumbs from the Table of Joy

; and Las Meninas

.

Press Reviews

"What Nottage captures brilliantly is the way work, however hard or demanding, gives people an identity and purpose. Behind the play’s portrayal of the damage done to individual lives by what Nottage calls ‘the American de-industrial revolution‘ lies a wider picture of collapsing hopes and corporate ruthlessness."

— The Guardian

"This compassionate but clear-eyed play throbs with heartfelt life, with characters as complicated as any you’ll encounter at the theater today, and with a nifty ticking time bomb of a plot. That the people onstage are middle-class or lower-middle-class folks – too rarely given ample time on American stages – makes the play all the more vital a contribution to contemporary drama. If I had pompoms, I’d be waving them now."

— Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

"Passionate and necessary… a masterful depiction of the forces that divide and conquer us. Sweat communicates its points with minimal fuss and maximum grit. Along with the rage, despair and violence, there’s humor and abundant humanity… a cautionary tale of what happens when you don’t know how to resist."

— Time Out New York

"Keenly observed and often surprisingly funny – but ultimately heartbreaking – the work traces the roots of a tragedy with both forensic psychological detail and embracing compassion. Ms. Nottage… is writing at the peak of her powers."

— The New York Times

"Sharp and threatening as a box cutter blade… ferociously engrossing… Sweat never feels less than authentic – and crucial."

— Deadline

Characters

Character
Jason

Ages 21 to 29, White American of German descent

Chris

Ages 21 to 29, African-American

Stan

50s, White American of German descent

Oscar

Ages 22 to 30, Colombian American

Tracey

Ages 45 to 53, White American of German descent

Cynthia

Ages 45 to 53, African American

Jessie

40s, Italian American

Brucie

40s, African American

Evan

40s, African American

Videos

Trailer: 'Sweat'

Available Editions

FormatPrice
Paperback
C$20.80
Paperback · 1
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Publication

Year2018
BindingPaperback
Edition1
Pages97
LanguageEnglish
ISBN-139780822237648
ISBN-100822237644
eISBN-139781559368544
LCCN2017000957
LCCPS3564.O795 S94 2017
DCC812/.54

Sweat (TCG Edition) is a American comedy play written by Lynn Nottage and published by Theatre Communications (2018).

Digital editions available on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play (eISBN 9781559368544).

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Rating

4.0

4k ratings·10k reviews

Review

Buy Play

1

Dramatists Play Service · 2018 · 97 pp

Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Amateur & Professional
Fee:Minimum Fee: $130 per performance

Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)

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