Page 6 The Skanner April 12, 2017
Arts & Entertainment
‘Sweat’ Honored With Pulitzer Prize for Drama
AP PHOTO/BEBETO MATTHEWS, FILE
for their beautiful con-
tributions – director
Kate Whoriskey; Oregon
Shakespeare
Festival
and Arena Stages, which
co-commissioned
the
play; producers Stuart
Thompson and Louise
Gund; The Public The-
In this April 2, 2009 file photo, playwright Lynn Nottage poses at home in New York. Nottage’s play,
“Sweat”, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama on Monday, April 10, 2017.
By Boneau Bryan-Brown
“S
weat,” the sear-
ing new play
on Broadway at
Studio 54 (254
West 54th Street), is the
recipient for the 2017 Pu-
litzer Prize for Drama.
The Pulitzer Prize cita-
tion lauded Sweat, “For
a nuanced yet powerful
drama that reminds au-
diences of the stacked
deck still facing workers
searching for the Ameri-
can dream.”
With yesterday’s Pu-
litzer news, playwright
Lynn Nottage becomes
the first woman to win
two Pulitzers for Drama.
She joins an esteemed
group of playwrights
who have won multiple
Pulitzers that includes
theatre titans Edward Al-
bee, Eugene O’Neill, Rob-
ert E. Sherwood, Thorn-
ton Wilder, Tennessee
Williams, and August
Wilson.
Playwright Lynn Not-
tage said, “I am grateful
to the Pulitzer panel for
recognizing my play. I
share this honor with an
amazing group of col-
laborators who poured
their energy and passion
into the making of Sweat.
I am eternally thankful
“
even when the stories are
challenging.”
“Sweat,” the play by
newly minted two-time
Pulitzer Prize winner
Lynn Nottage, directed
by Kate Whoriskey be-
gan performance at Stu-
dio 54 on March 4 and
Playwright Lynn Nottage be-
comes the first woman to win
two Pulitzers for Drama
ater; early support from
the McCarter Theatre
and The Lark; and the all
of the casts, designers,
and crew members.
However, this play
would not exist if the
good people of Reading,
PA hadn’t so generous-
ly invited me into their
community to listen to
their uncensored stories.
The role of an artist is to
witness and reflect, and
to be in dialogue with
the culture at large. As
a woman of color, I feel
an even greater urgency
to flex my voice, and it is
gratifying to know that
there is an audience that
will lean in and engage
opened on March 26,
2017 to critical acclaim.
The full cast includes
Carlo Albán (Oscar),
James Colby (Stan), Khris
Davis (Chris), Johanna
Day (Tracey), John Earl
Jelks (Brucie), Will Pul-
len (Jason), Lance Coad-
ie Williams (Evan), Mi-
chelle Wilson (Cynthia),
and Alison Wright (Jes-
sie).
“Sweat” was chosen as
one of the Best Plays of
2016 by The New York
Times, Wall Street Jour-
nal, Los Angeles Times,
Time Out New York, The
Star-Ledger, The Bergen
Record, Deadline, The
Wrap, The Huffington
Post, New York Amster-
dam News, Theater-
mania, and Broadway
World.
“Sweat” was co-com-
missioned by the Ore-
gon Shakespeare Fes-
tival and D.C.’s Arena
Stage. The play received
its world premiere at
OSF in July 2015, in a
sold-out run. The pro-
duction
subsequently
played an acclaimed run
at Arena Stage in Janu-
ary 2016. Sweat played an
acclaimed engagement at
New York’s Public The-
ater in November 2016,
where it was extended
three times, with critics
writing about the play’s
breathtaking timeliness,
compassion, and power.
With warm humor
and tremendous heart,
Lynn Nottage’s Sweat
tells the story of a group
of friends who have
spent their lives shar-
ing drinks, secrets and
laughs while working
together on the line of a
factory floor. But when
layoffs and picket lines
begin to chip away at
their trust, the friends
find themselves pitted
against each other in the
hard fight to stay afloat.
Kate Whoriskey di-
rects this stunning new
play about the collision
of race, class, family and
friendship, and the trag-
ic, unintended costs of
community without op-
portunity.
Sweat is produced
on Broadway by Stuart
Thompson and Louise
Gund.
The creative team
for
Sweat
features
John Lee Beatty (scenic
design), Jennifer Mo-
eller (costume design),
Peter
Kaczorowski
(lighting design), Rob
Milburn and Michael
Bodeen (sound design),
and Jeff Sugg (projection
design).
Jacob Latimore: The
“Sleight” Interview
Jacob Latimore in ‘Sleight’
By Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
J
acob Latimore has
been hailed by Va-
riety, Indiewire and
The Wrap as a young
breakout star. Having
emerged as one of the
most promising talents
of his generation, his up-
coming films are from
Academy
Award-win-
ning directors and writ-
ers where he stars along-
side actors of that same
caliber.
Jacob was most recent-
ly seen among the ensem-
ble of celebrated thespi-
ans in the holiday season
film “Collateral Beauty,”
directed by Oscar-win-
ner David Frankel. The
picture follows the sto-
ry of a once-successful
businessman
played
by Will Smith, who has
slipped into severe de-
pression following a
personal tragedy. His
friends, show concern
when he begins writing
letters to various ob-
jects on themes like time,
love, and death which
then show up as people
played by Latimore, Kei-
ra Knightley and Helen
Mirren.
Earlier in his career,
See INTERVIEW on page 9
