Review: 'Sweat' by Western CT State University Theatre Dept.

DANBURY, CT - The Western CT State University Department of Theatre Arts opened their Spring Virtual Production Series with the play SWEAT, written by Lynn Nottage. The production was directed and adapted to the screen by Tim Howard.

Since the series is scheduled to include four productions, I was surprised to discover that this was a fully-staged version of the play, convincingly acted by the WCSU students. The editing of the stream may not have been flawless, but overall it was very, very good, making the two acts a pleasure for me to watch...twice, actually.

In the Dramaturg Notes, Vanessa Cappuccio-Baer writes that the playwright was commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to write a play about an American revolution. The Pulitzer Prize-winning SWEAT, which came about because of an experience of a close friend who was struggling financially and the phenomenon of Occupy Wall Street, examines the issue of the rising economic disparity in the United States. Nottage set the play in Reading, Pennsylvania, a city in the Rust Belt declared by the US Census as the poorest city in America for its size and focused on its steelworkers.

“SWEAT portrays a community unraveling: cracking under the pressures of ever-increasing economic disparity, malignant racial tensions, and an overwhelming sense of abandonment.” - Dramaturg Vanessa Cappuccio-Baur

This is not an easy piece to produce, for a variety of reasons, but the students and the production team have clearly risen to the challenges involved. There are helpful date stamps and temperature slides that help viewers know whether the scene takes place in the year 2000, or eight years later. The scene change videos include President George W. Bush, a young President Obama, and a younger Bernie Sanders.

It was easy for me to spot WCSU junior Julia Rocchio from Naugatuck in the nine-member cast. I remembered the performances of Ms. Rocchio at Waterbury Arts Magnet School, including Gladys in MEMPHIS, and also saw her in THE RADIUM GIRLS: A JAW-DROPPING NEW MUSICAL and A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at WCSU. She does amazing work with the downhill spiral of the widowed mother Tracey, a forty-year old white factory worker.

Crystal Campbell, a transfer student and current senior at WCSU from Weston, plays with strength and conviction Cynthia, a woman of color who is a coworker and friend of Tracey. Chloe Kramer, a first year transfer student from Poughkeepsie, rounds out the trio of girlfriends in the role of the hard-drinking Jessie.

George Pinnock, a junior from Queens, does very well in the role of Evan, a probation officer. Sophomore Berny Balbuena (DOGNAP AT DEKALB as Ariel) plays the role of Oscar, a Columbian-American busboy working in the bar. Ulric Alfred Taylor, a junior from Brooklyn, takes on the role of Brucie, the estranged husband of Cynthia.

Aidan Conroy, a freshman from Bridgeport, plays Jason, the young adult son of Tracey and junior Darius Mullins is his buddy Chris, the son of Cynthia. Nate Bloom, a junior from West Haven who appeared in RADIUM GIRLS, turns in a very strong performance as a steelworker who was injured on the job and now tends bar at neighborhood tavern.

Kudos to head editor Andrew Gusciora and his assistants on making the actors’ performances, presumably filmed individually, appear not only to be in the same drinking establishment, but sitting together at the bar. There is even a choreographed fight sequence that was more than a little hard to watch because of its realism. The green screen which allowed the characters to exist inside of Mike’s Tavern worked very well; only a few of the cuts seemed forced.

There are some carefully chosen video clips of a run down neighborhood, news snippets from the era, and a video of the two young men that accompanies an important section of narration. I also liked the graphics designed for this play. Lea Garst was in charge of the props, Abigail did the realistic hair and makeup and Sydney Kuhn was the head costumer for the working class costumes that fit the script.

Be forewarned that there is a lot of foul language and a few racial slurs in the script. Original music for this production was composed by Amanda D’Archangelis.

SWEAT will stream again on Saturday, May 8th.

Nancy Sasso Janis, writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, posts well over 100 reviews in a normal year. In 2016, her membership in the Connecticut Critics Circle began and her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted not only in the Naugatuck Patch but also on the Patch sites closest to the venue. She recently became a contributor to the Republican-American newspaper and will be writing a weekly 'In The Wings' column for the Weekend section of the Thursday edition.

Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the NEW CCC Facebook page