Playwright Lynn Nottage for years interviewed—to use in her play Sweat— working class people in Reading, PA. She dramatized what typical representatives of them went through economically, socially, and emotionally from 2000 to 2008. Though basically a chronicle, Sweat shows how individuals responded as workers to their one-factory town crisis and its effects on their personal relationships. At Asolo Rep, projections of the era’s political situations over the realistic tavern where workers socialize indicate Nichole A. Watson’s directorial emphasis on there being a larger context for the Reading workers’ acts. That’s important since the play’s a flashback from and to scenes of a parole officer (Gabriel Lawrence’s astute Evan) advising former workers who’ve been incarcerated. Both of them (effective Matthew Kresch’s racist Jason and Kevin Minor’s keen misguidedly religious Chris) had acted violently in blame for their job loss. As a whole, Sweat poses questions of what causes the workers’ problems and gives their responses which likewise become problems. They all condemn the factory owners’ grubby placing of profit before decency. Bruce A. Young as pitiful Brucie represents the union workers ignored by the manufacturers, causing their ranks and powers to diminish. Brucie’s addiction during his stand with the union also adds to undermining his marriage and relationship with his son. The problem with management vs. workers degenerates further into racism when Danielle Lee Greaves’ outstanding Cynthia, who is black, gets to manage a floor. This separates her from friends Tracey and Jessie (although opposite personalities, just as powerfully portrayed by Carolyn Ann Hoerdemann and Liz Zweifler). The change becomes disappointingly apparent when Cynthia’s birthday lacks the party previously given for Jessie’s. Another problem for the workers is jobs being exported to Mexico. They also blame scabs who come into town for quick wages and thus break the union’s power and cause reduced pay for all. When the bar’s busboy Oscar decides to leave for such a better-paying job, the workers profess themselves anti-immigrant. In truth, Oscar (likeable Rudy Galvan) is a Reading native, but because he’s Hispanic, the union rejected him. Matt DeCaro stands out as bar owner Stan, a victim of both the manufacturers and the workers. He’d been let go after almost three decades in the factory because he was crippled in an accident there. Then he’d been prevented from suing the employers. Finally, he gets caught in another crippling incident during a workers’ fight. The technical staff deserves praise for its authentic settings, costumes, and hair styles. Contrasting lighting indicates the difference between parole office and the tavern. Sound is clear and properly varied. There may be a few more projections than necessary, though that they’re dated is welcome. Just as war and efforts to survive violence occupy the nation, as depicted overhead, so the staged actions below indicate the need for survival designs and tactics. Is the second frame of the story basically hopeful, pessimistic, or just uncertain? How much might audience members predict beyond what the news of Reading has been? Or, after seeing Sweat, will they care? Sweat is now moving to the West End in London from its premiere off that center. It is the play with the second-highest record for production in America in the 2018-2019 season. Obviously, both the town and workers of Reading, PA are getting a lot of attention. Have or will solutions come to their problems?
