Auditions for SWEAT

 

 

The Milburn Stone Theatre, Director Alliyah Thorpe, Stage Manager Cayla Kerr and Artistic Director Andrew John Mitchell announce auditions for the June 2023 production of Lynn Nottage’s SWEAT

 

SWEAT

A play by Lynn Nottage

Recommended for ages 16 and up

 

Physical theatre location for in-person rehearsals and performances: 

The Milburn Stone Theatre, Cecil College, One Seahawk Drive, North East MD 21901 | Box office phone number: (410) 287-1037

 

Audition Dates:

There will be two audition dates for SWEAT: Tuesday, March 14th at 7pm and Thursday, March 23rd at 7pm. Those auditioning can sign-up for a slot at milburnstone.com/auditions or can arrive and sign-up during the first hour and a half of auditions. 

 

Callbacks:

Callbacks will be held on Thursday, March 30th at 7pm. Callback notifications will be sent by the latest on Monday, March 27th at 8pm.

 

SWEAT Audition Preparation:

please prepare a 1-2 minute contemporary monologue. 

 

Rehearsals/Performances:

Rehearsals will begin in early April. The schedule will be based on both performer and production staff availability, so please submit all known conflicts at the time of auditions. The Milburn Stone Theatre traditionally rehearses 2-3 times a week. Tech week for SWEAT will be held Sunday, April 16th through Thursday, April 20th, no conflicts will be accepted for these tech dates.

 

Performances for SWEAT will begin on Friday, June 9th with performances on June 10th & 11th. Friday and Saturday night performances are at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday performances are at 2pm. 

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Please note: The Milburn Stone Theatre is a community theatre on a college campus, this production is non-paid/non-union

 

 

 

SWEAT Character Breakdown

All roles are available. Ages are of the characters and not necessarily of the actors portraying them.

 

The Milburn Stone Theatre is committed to Cecil College’s principles of diversity, equity, and inclusivity, and encourages performers of all ethnicities, races, backgrounds, genders, and ages to audition.

 

Tracey - Late 40’s/Early 50’s, White American of German descent. Opinionated and proud of the work her family has done, she has been working at Olstead’s factory for over twenty years, following her father and grandfather. She is best friends with Cynthia until she feels betrayed by Cynthia after the latter’s promotion. Though she claims to not care about race, Tracey sometimes makes racially insensitive comments. She is Jason’s mother.

 

Cynthia - Late 40’s/Early 50’s, African-American. Cynthia has been working at the plant as long as Tracey has. She is ambitious and applies for the promotion that moves her up to a managerial position. This puts Cynthia in a difficult spot when management wants to cut wages and Cynthia finds herself pitted against her friends.

 

Jessie - 40’s, Italian American. Jessie is white and friends with Tracey and Cynthia. She struggles with alcohol addiction, always drinking much more than the others at the bar. When she was young, she wanted to travel the world, but she ended up getting a job at the plant and has never left.

 

Jason - Early to late 20’s, White American of German descent. Jason is Tracey’s son. He is outgoing and often teases his best friend, Chris. His anger at losing his job at the factory causes him to get into a fight with violent consequences. In jail, Jason becomes a white supremacist.

 

Chris - Early to late 20’s, African-American. Chris is Cynthia’s son and Jason’s friend; like Jason, he is in his twenties. He works at the factory but has aspirations to go to college. He is saving up money for school when the strike happens and he becomes involved in a fight with Jason that lands him in jail.

 

Brucie - 40’s, African American. Brucie is Chris’s father and Cynthia’s estranged husband. He has fallen on hard times and becomes involved with drugs, although he starts a rehab program. It is revealed that his addiction issues are related to his being fired from his factory job after his union was pushed out.

 

Stan - 50’s, White American of German descent. Stan is a former steel worker who became a bartender after getting injured at the plant. He is white, in his fifties, and friendly. Stan tries to break up the fight between Jason and Oscar and unfortunately suffers a brain injury while doing so.

 

Oscar - Early to late 20’s, Colombian American. Oscar works at the bar. Always considered an outsider and not afforded many job opportunities, he crosses the picket line when the plant offers more than what he makes at the bar. This causes a fight with Jason. By 2008, he has become the manager of the bar and takes care of Stan.

 

Evan - 40’s, African-American. Evan is Chris and Jason’s parole officer in 2008, when they get out of prison. He helps the two young men confront their feelings about what happened. Evan, who is Black, can be forceful in drawing forth information and is unflappable in the face of Jason’s racist remarks.

 

About SWEAT:

 

Life is hard but reassuringly predictable for a tight-knit group of friends in blue-collar Reading, Pa. On the factory floor and in the local bar, bonds are forged, drinks are downed, and gossip flows. But when layoffs and picket lines chip away at their trust, friends find themselves pitted against each other in a heart-wrenching primal fight for survival.  From its slow-burn opening to its electrifying end, Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play confronts race, deindustrialization, and the ever-shrinking middle class with humor and heart.

 

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. “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…” —NY 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 NY. “Sharp and threatening as a box cutter blade…ferociously engrossing…SWEAT never feels less than authentic—and crucial.” —Deadline.com.

 

 

SWEAT is presented through special permission by Dramatist Play Service inc.

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