The Drama Group stages ‘Sweat’ play in Chicago Heights
Chicago Heights’ industrial history, which started with the former Inland Steel in the 1890s, continues more than a century later with many manufacturing and distribution companies calling the city home.
The Drama Group’s production of “Sweat,” which runs from Dec. 3-12 at the Milord Studio Theatre in Chicago Heights, could resonate with not only the town’s residents but also other Southlanders due to the play’s focus on blue-collar workers vs. modernization.
“It’s a story really of a group of friends but primarily two women. One is white. One is Black. They’ve been friends forever,” said MaryEllen Fawk, director of “Sweat.”
“They were born and bred in that factory. Their families worked there. They both had sons around the same age who were friends. They have great friends. They all gather in a bar where they just unwind. Word gets out that there are some changes in administration at the factory where they work.
“It goes from 2000 to 2008. In that period of
eight years their lives become shattered. It’s a beautiful tour de force. I think audiences will like it because so much of Chicago Heights’ origins were built on an industrial complex.”
Lynn Nottage, who won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for drama for “Ruined,” wrote “Sweat,” which won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for drama for what officials said was “a nuanced yet powerful drama that reminds audiences of the stacked deck still facing workers searching for the American dream.”
“The play originated from interviews that Nottage got in Reading, Pennsylvania, from people who were impacted by all the changes. It’s a powerful piece,” said Fawk, who is in her second year as vice president of the Drama
Group.
“It’s maybe a director’s dream to take on a piece that is so beautifully written. The wonder of Nottage’s works is she creates very real characters. You can think of her pieces like a cross between realism and naturalism. She really lets the audience into the souls of these people.
“This piece in particular comes off like it has tragic elements in it but it also is uplifting at the end because she lets the audience think that there is movement toward some sign of hope. She tries to tell us to take a look at what’s really going on here so that’s what makes her writing so phenomenal.”
The cast of “Sweat” includes Chicago, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hickory Hills, Mokena, Orland Park, Sauk Village and River Forest residents.
“When we held our auditions I was fearful that people would be afraid to come out because of COVID,” said Fawk of Chicago Heights, who is working on “Sweat” with assistant director Barbara Whitney, of Richton Park.
“We had a few people that showed up the first night. By the second night
Barb and I were saying, ‘Thank goodness.’ The people who came out to audition knew Nottage’s work and were really moved by the play.”
The show’s production team includes residents of Beecher, Chicago Heights, Crete, Flossmoor, Homewood, Mokena, New Lenox, Olympia Fields, Tinley Park and Whiting,
Indiana.
Discrimination, poverty and race are among the issues explored in “Sweat,” which is set in a Rust Belt town and includes a disintegrating friendship, a company moving jobs to Mexico, a trade union striking and company management locking out workers.
“It all takes place in a bar and the scenes are like little vignettes of a passage through time and the lives of these people,” said Fawk, who discovered Nottage’s writing while researching pieces for the speech team that she coaches at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, where she is also an English teacher.
“We have some industries that are still thinking of moving to other countries. We do have new industries that are being sought after like the corn fields with wind turbines. Solar energy is becoming more popular. We’re seeing more solar panels on roofs in our neighborhoods as we drive through them.
“Technology is ever-changing. Because of that, work is going to change so I think it’s real important that we not forget this group of people and maybe inspire them and help people that have been disenfranchised to understand there is a way out.”
“Sweat” carries a content warning for strong language, drug references and some suggested violence.