Producers Stuart Thompson and Louise Gund announced December 5 that Sweat, the new play by Lynn Nottage with direction by Kate Whoriskey, will transfer to Broadway’s Studio 54 following an acclaimed and sold-out engagement at the Public Theater. Broadway performances of Sweat will begin March 4, 2017, prior to a March 26 opening.
Sweat, a personal and political drama exploring America's industrial decline, reunites Nottage with Whoriskey following their work on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined. The new play began performances at the Public Theater October 18, garnering rave reviews and three extensions. The Off-Broadway engagement will conclude December 18.
The cast from the Public Theater—made up of Carlo Albán, James Colby, Khris Davis, Johanna Day, John Earl Jelks, Will Pullen, Miriam Shor, Lance Coadie Williams, and Michelle Wilson—is expected to reprise their performances on Broadway. Tickets for the Broadway production of Sweat will go on sale December 9 via Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.
“America needs Sweat. We've been thrilled by the voracious appetite that audiences at The Public have had for Lynn Nottage's masterpiece, and are thrilled that it will continue its life on Broadway,” said Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis in a statement. “No piece I know captures in such brilliant and absorbing particulars the drama and fury of Americans who feel left behind in our new economy. We need to listen to these voices with openness and compassion; Sweat allows us to do just that, in a brilliantly theatrical way.”
Set in a Pennsylvania town at the turn of the millennium, the characters in Sweat struggle to remain afloat following the nation’s industrial decline. When there is talk of layoffs among a group of factory co-workers and friends, their close bonds begin to shatter, and they find themselves pitted against each other in a bid to survive. The play was awarded the prestigious 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize earlier this year.
Scroll through photos from the New York premiere:
“We have been so proud and fortunate to follow Lynn Nottage's groundbreaking play Sweat before it opened at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We have been in the front seat along the journey and are beyond delighted to allow New York audiences to see Lynn Nottage, one of our country’s greatest playwrights, make her Broadway debut with this magnificent and pulse-inducing work,” said Broadway producers Thompson and Gund in a joint statement.
The creative team for Sweat features John Lee Beatty (scenic design), Jennifer Moeller (costume design), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting design), Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (original music and sound design), and Jeff Sugg (projection design).
Sweat was co-commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and D.C.’s Arena Stage. The play received its world premiere at OSF in July 2015 and subsequently played an acclaimed run at Arena Stage in January 2016.
