A drive through the North Carolina Piedmont likely means passing shuttered or repurposed factories where hundreds of men and women used to clock in for work each week. Students with UNC Greensboro’s College of Visual and Performing Arts will bring a piece of that history to life with their adaptation of the award-winning Broadway play “Sweat.”
“Sweat,” which was written by Lynn Nottage, is directed by UNCG assistant professor Mya Brown. Performances begin on April 1 and run through April 9, at the Pam and David Sprinkle Theatre.
The play follows a group of factory workers in Pennsylvania. It is the year 2000, a time when many jobs in the U.S. were outsourced to other countries. The characters, while interacting at a bar, find their friendships put to the test.
The play grapples with workers’ rights, race, and economic insecurity.
“I am inspired to tell truthful stories that resonate with the greater population and “Sweat” fits that mold,” Dr. Brown says.
UNCG’s openness to a dialogue about these issues is one of the things that drew her to the University in 2020. She can relate to the character Cynthia, played by actor Willa Bost.
“The challenges she faced, in 2000, at the factory and in her personal life, are still very real challenges that Black women are facing today,” Dr. Brown says.
Bost agrees.
“This play could be produced at any time and the social and political questions that it raises would still be relevant,” Bost says. “It was once said that people go to the theater to exercise their empathetic muscles. If that is the case, they are sure to get a workout when coming to see Sweat.”
The actors themselves were challenged to portray people whose words and behavior go against their beliefs. One character uses racial slurs. Dr. Brown says it was difficult for the actor to say those words and for others to hear them during rehearsals.
“This is an emotionally taxing play littered with themes of oppression,” Dr. Brown says. “And we did the best we could to honor the intentions of the playwright while also engaging in our own self-care. … I thank (the actors) so very much, because their strength fortified me and my vision for the play.”
Dr. Brown hopes the audience will walk out of the theatre with a new perspective.
“We aim to inspire folks to leave the theatre with a curiosity to find and act on solutions that will build a more inclusive future,” she says.
Tickets for “Sweat” are on sale here.
Story by Janet Imrick, University Communications
Photos by Martin W. Kane, University Communications
