Sweat (Acting Edition)
by Lynn Nottage

"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

"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

"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