{"id":109647,"date":"2025-06-15T16:41:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T23:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=109647"},"modified":"2025-06-15T16:41:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T23:41:48","slug":"sweat-at-palo-alto-players-is-raw-emotional-and-commands-attention-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/sweat-at-palo-alto-players-is-raw-emotional-and-commands-attention-2\/","title":{"rendered":"“Sweat” at Palo Alto Players is raw, emotional and commands attention"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Watching a Lynn Nottage play like \u201cSweat\u201d is a little like peeling an onion. What you see at first is the whole onion, but then gradually the top layer comes off, then another and another until you are eventually left with just the raw core.<\/p>\n

\u201cSweat,\u201d which won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2017, gets a commanding production locally by Palo Alto Players at the Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto.\u00a0 It runs through June 29.<\/p>\n

Nottage\u2019s play sometimes shifts in time between 2008 and 2016. It starts out with a parole officer (a steady Shawnj West, who also directs this show) talking with two young men who have been incarcerated for about eight years and are now out on parole.\u00a0 One,\u00a0 Jason (Will Livingston), is angry about missing out on a good chunk of his life and has reverted to getting facial and neck tattoos and hanging out with the wrong crowd.<\/p>\n

The other, Chris (a convincing Adam C. Torrian) only wants to move forward with his life and tells the parole officer that he has taken a number of courses while in prison and eventually hopes to finish work on a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s opening night crowd \u2013 which saw the theater about 85 percent full \u2013 gave \u201cSweat\u201d a standing ovation which was well deserved (at least for the majority of the actors).<\/p>\n

The set then shifts to a typical bar \u2013 where the majority of the action takes place.\u00a0 As Stan, the bar\u2019s owner, Scott Soloman is outstanding.\u00a0 He\u2019s on stage for the majority of the play and serves to ground the action taking place in his bar.<\/p>\n

Three long-time friends (a dynamic Kimberly Ridgeway as Cynthia, \u00a0Amy Meyers as somewhat hot-headed Tracey, and Tannis Hanson as sweet Jessie) are already there. It\u2019s clear that all have already had a number of drinks and Jessie, whose birthday they\u2019re celebrating, has had way too many. She tries to get up, but only succeeds in getting part way before she plunks her head on the table and falls asleep again.<\/p>\n

When she finally does succeed, she goes to Stan to order another drink, but he cuts her off.\u00a0 (Good thing, too, because shortly afterward she runs toward the ladies\u2019 room to barf!)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when things are good between the three women.\u00a0 But Cynthia applies for \u2013 and is selected \u2013 to be a \u2018token woman\u2019 on the management team.\u00a0 This causes a rift with Tracey, who now feels Cynthia is lording her new role over her two friends.<\/p>\n

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From left: Amy Meyers as Tracey,\u00a0 Tannis Hanson as Jessie and Kimberly Ridgeway as Cynthia.<\/p>\n

Photo: Scott Lasky<\/p>\n

Although there\u2019s much to like about PAP\u2019s production of \u201cSweat,\u201d there are some problems as well.\u00a0 For one, there\u2019s the gimmicky use of three mostly unintelligible television monitors located at each side and in the middle of the set. The problem is that all three TVs have different station personalities on screen, yet only one of them talks about the problems happening in Reading, Pennsylvania in 2008.\u00a0 It would have been better to have all three TVS showing the same station person talking.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a problem with occasionally using the far edges of the set.\u00a0 At least once a character was sitting stage left but only his feet could be seen by audience members sitting on the far left.<\/p>\n

As the play progresses, the audience discovers that Chris is Cynthia\u2019s son, and the initially hot-headed Jason is Tracey\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

It helps if the audience understands what NAFTA is (the North American Free Trade Agreement which promoted trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico from 1994 and 2020).\u00a0 What the factory workers learn is that most of their jobs are being phased out, and Hispanic workers are being brought in because they will work for lower pay.<\/p>\n

One other character deserves mention here because he is pivotal to so much that happens in Act 2 when some of the action takes place in 2008 and some in 2016.\u00a0 That is Aaron Edejer as Oscar.\u00a0 He is Stan\u2019s helper at the bar, whipping down tables, fixing things that get broken, ferrying glasses back to the bar and generally doing whatever Stan tells him to do,\u00a0 He tells Tracey Columbian\/American, and when the factory workers are let go, he crosses their picket line to work for less money at the factory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From left:\u00a0 Anthony Hayes as Brucie, Aaron Edejer as Oscar, Amy Meyers as Tracy, Scott Solomon as Stan, Tannis Hanson as Jessie and Kimberly Ridgeway as Cynthia.<\/p>\n

Photo: Scott Lasky<\/p>\n

\u201cSweat\u201d has a swift and surprising ending, which won\u2019t be divulged here.\u00a0 But it left audience members gasping.<\/p>\n

This production is not recommended for children under 10 due to strong language, staged violence, racism and adult themes.<\/p>\n

Palo Alto Players presents \u201cSweat<\/em>\u201d by Lynn Nottage<\/strong>
\nNow through June 29, 2025<\/strong>
\nFridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., select Saturdays at 2 p.m. and Sunday<\/strong> matinees at 2:00 p.m.<\/strong>
\nLucie Stern Theater<\/strong>
\n1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301<\/p>\n

\ufe0f\u00a0Tickets are $20 – $63 <\/strong>and can be purchased at the PAP Box Office (650) 329-0801 or online at www.paplayers.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Watching a Lynn Nottage play like \u201cSweat\u201d is a little like peeling an onion. What you see at first is the whole onion, but then gradually the top layer comes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":4.6,"yasr_post_is_review":"yes","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Event","footnotes":""},"categories":[841],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-109647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-joanne-engelhardt"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"