A Contemporary Theatre Opens 2020 Season with SWEAT

A Contemporary Theatre opens its 55th Season with Lynn Nottage's 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Sweat. Hailed by The New Yorker Magazine as "The first theatrical landmark of the Trump Era," Sweat is the gritty, heartbreaking story of factory workers who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets, and laughs while working together on the factory floor. But when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, and union jobs and factory machinery can disappear overnight, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in a gut-wrenching fight to stay afloat. Nottage poignantly captures the roots of our current national economic insecurity; and the political fury and racial tensions in our political climate today.

ACT will partner with theatre and film advocates nationwide for 50/50 in 2020. This initiative works to achieve gender parity for professional women in the arts at all levels, both onstage and off by 2020. Written by multiple award winner Lynn Nottage, Sweat will be the first of four plays in ACT's five-play 2020 Season written by a female playwright.

Artistic Director, John Langs says, "I can't think of play that cries out more for the authenticity of a talented ensemble to bring Nottage's powerful work to life. Sweat captures the heartbeat of the American working class and our production will be an event not to be missed in Seattle."

Sweat runs March 20-April 12, 2020 in the Allen Theatre at ACT - A Contemporary Theatre, 700 Union Street in downtown Seattle.

Tickets start at $20 and go on sale Friday, November 29, 2019 at acttheatre.org/Sweat.
Opening Night is March 26, 2020
ASL performance is April 9, 2020
Closed captioning devices are available at all Mainstage performances.

The cast of Sweat includes Anne Allgood (Tracey), Shawn Belyea (Stan), Miguel Castellano (Oscar), Anthony Leroy Fuller (Evan), Russell Hawkins (Chris), Tracy Michelle Hughes (Cynthia), Reginald A. Jackson, (Brucie), Craig Peterson (Jason), and Sara Waisanen (Jessie).

Directed by John Langs, the creative team includes: LB Morse (Scenic and Lighting Designer), Pete Rush (Costume Designer), Sharath Patel (Sound Designer) and Geoffrey Alm (Fight Choreographer).

Lynn Nottage's plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Her most recent play, Mlima's Tale, premiered at The Public Theater in May 2018. In the spring of 2017, Sweat (Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Drama Desk Nomination, and a Tony Nomination) moved to Broadway after a sold out run at The Public Theater. It premiered and was commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival American Revolutions History Cycle/Arena Stage. Other plays include By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, OBIE, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award), Intimate Apparel (American Theatre Critics Award for Best Play), Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (OBIE Award), Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Las Meninas, Mud, River, Stone, Por'knockers and POOF!. She is currently an artist-in-residence at the Park Avenue Armory.

Over the years, she has developed original projects for HBO, Showtime, This is That, and Harpo. She is writer/producer on the Netflix series She's Gotta Have It, directed by Spike Lee. Nottage is the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship, Steinberg "Mimi" Distinguished Playwright Award, Doris Duke Artist Award, The Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, and the inaugural Horton Foote Prize. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. Nottage is a board member for Dramatist Play Service, Second Stage and the Dramatists Guild. She is member of The Dramatists Guild and WGAE.

Located in Seattle's Downtown Historic Theatre District, ACT is home to five performance spaces under one roof. Since 1965, ACT has been a destination for experiencing new voices, stories, and art. ACT is steadfast in its dedication to producing work with contemporary playwrights and local performing artists through its Mainstage Play series, ACTLab producing partnerships, and Young Playwrights Program. With more than 450 performances a year, ACT is a community hub where artists and the public connect about today's issues and ideas and celebrate the shared experience.