Review: SWEAT at Center Rep

In 2008, two recent parolees dread meeting each other on the outside. Jason is white Aryan tattooed and full of shame, Chris, repentant and newly religious. They share a crime that will slowly be revealed through flashbacks of their friendship as co-workers at a working class mill in Philadelphia. The slow destruction of that factory through layoffs, long picket lines and economic collapse tests their relationships, morals and resilience in Lynn Nottage's 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning drama.

Set in Kelly James Tighe's richly detailed neighborhood bar, we're introduced to the comic, highly inebriated and extremely colorful factory workers as they celebrate life, share gossip and dreams of the future. Nottage gives us a female perspective through best friends Tracey (Lisa Anne Porter), Cynthia (Cathleen Riddley), an African American interested in management, and Jesse (Maryssa Wanlass). They're boisterous frivolity will be tested when forces beyond their control exert enormous pressures that tear apart their lives. Porter and Riddley give standout performances in very tough roles that ride a rollercoaster of raw emotions.

Turns out Jason (Adam KuveNiemann) is Tracey's son and Chris (Eddie Ewell) Cynthias. Chronicling the end of an era in the industrial US, Sweat play hits on hot topics of job displacement, scab workers crossing picket lines, and the loss of identity and self-worth. Director Carter ratchets up the anger and anxiety as lives are destroyed leading to a violent confrontation that sends the boys to prison. Robert Parsons as Stan the bartender and Michael J. Asberry as Cynthia's deadbeat husband Brucie deliver strong supporting roles.

Sweat accurately details the enormous downstream effects economic forces have on everyday folks already struggling with low wages and lack of advancement and upward mobility. Union busting, a concept thought impossible, became a reality by removing the safety nets and security of millions of Americans. Sweat is the seamy side of American socio-politics that screams to be exposed and understood.

Sweat continues through April 16th. Tix are available here or by calling (925) 943-7469.

Photo credit: Kevin Berne

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