Everyman Theatre "Sweat" Play Guide

PLAY GUIDE

EVERYMAN THEATRE G REAT STO RI ES, WELL TOLD.

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A NOTE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

By Vincent M. Lancisi, Artistic Director

W

elcome. Sometimes a play comes along that just grabs you in a way that sticks with you. Sweat did that to me. From the moment I first encountered a performance, I knew I had to produce it at Everyman.

The people of Sweat are the forgotten workers, the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, entire generations who had their livelihoods stripped away and were locked out of their American Dream. The victims of jobs heading overseas, the breaking of unions, and the loss of good paying jobs for skilled workers left many reeling and asking “what happened?” They didn’t even see it coming.

Playwright Lynn Nottage has given us real people that we care about who are friends, colleagues, neighbors, and people trying to stay afloat, to survive, to find a way to keep working. We root for them and feel somehow that what happened was almost criminal. There was an unwritten contract that existed rewarding skilled workers with enough compensation for their hard, often physical labor that was enough to purchase a house and raise a family.

After 30 or so years, the payoff was the ability to retire when their bodies had broken down with a pension and a paid off mortgage. The work was hard but the loyalty and rewards were there as compensation. It was a way of life for an entire class of people.

I love a play that puts a tragic situation on stage in a way that makes me see it through a different lens. I understand the fall out and results of what happens when people can’t adapt to a changing marketplace. I’m not surprised how it

might lead to a divided nation, a forgotten people, perhaps even an opioid epidemic. This isn’t a Democrat problem, or a Republican problem, it’s an American one that happened right under our noses.

“Lynn Nottage has given us real people that we care about... We root for them and feel somehow that what happened was almost criminal.”

Although Sweat takes place up the road in Reading, Pennsylvania, it may as well be right here in Baltimore.

Rarely are plays as timely, as insightful, as necessary as is Sweat. All of Baltimore and beyond should see this play. It explains a lot. Help spread the word.

Thank you for coming.

EVERYMAN THEATRE

Vincent M. Lancisi, Founder, Artistic Director

presents

SWEAT

Playwright LYNN NOTTAGE Director VINCENT M. LANCISI

Jessie................................................................................................................................ MEGAN ANDERSON* Brucie.......................................................................................................................................... JABEN EARLY* Tracey............................................................................................................................... DEBORAH HAZLETT* Evan................................................................................................................................ JASON B. McINTOSH* Chris......................................................................................................................... VAUGHN RYAN MIDDER* Stan............................................................................................................................................KURT RHOADS* Oscar....................................................................................................................................ALEJANDRO RUIZ* Cynthia.................................................................................................................................... DAWN URSULA* Jason.........................................................................................................................MATTHEW ALAN WARD* Set Design

Lighting Design

DANIEL ETTINGER

HAROLD F. BURGESS II

Sound Design

Fight Choreography

C ANDREW MAYER

Props Master

DAVID BURDICK Dramaturgy

LINDSEY R. BARR

LEWIS SHAW

JILLIAN MATHEWS

Costume Design

Stage Manager

CAT WALLIS

Setting: Reading, Pennsylvania; 2000 and 2008

This production will be performed in two acts with one intermission.

PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES. NO TEXTING. NO EATING IN THE THEATRE. Sweat is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

Co-commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle and Arena Stage World premiere of Sweat was first presented in New York by The Public Theatre (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director).

Originally produced on Broadway by Stuart Thompson and Louise L. Gund.

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production or distributing recordings on any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law. * Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

SPONSORS

SUSAN W. FLANIGAN DANCING AT LUGHNASA PLAY GUIDE | 1

Lynn Nottage. Photo by Jesse Dittmar/Washington Post.

THE PLAYWRIGHT Lynn Nottage

P

ulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter, Lynn Nottage, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1964. She wrote her first play at age eight—inspired by her grandmother, mother, and other female role models. The women in her family were the nurses, teachers, activists and artists in the Brooklyn neighborhood where she grew up.

Nottage is a 1982 graduate of New York’s High School of Music and Art in Harlem (now Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School). While in high school, she wrote her first full-length play, The Darker Side of Verona, about an African-American Shakespeare company traveling through the south. She received her B.A. at Brown University in 1986, and M.F.A. degree in playwriting at the Yale School of Drama in 1989. She holds honorary degrees from Julliard and Albright College.

Nottage became a full-time playwright in the 1990s after four years as a national press officer at Amnesty International.

Other plays include By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lilly Award, Drama Desk Nomination), Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Audelco, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award), Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (OBIE Award), Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Las Meninas, Mud, River, Stone, Por’knockers and POOF!.

In 2003, her drama Intimate Apparel, a play about an African American seamstress in turn of the century New York, won major awards including the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Francesca Primus Prize and the Steinberg Award. Actress Viola Davis won a Drama Desk Award for her outstanding 2014 performance in Intimate Apparel at the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City. Over the years, Nottage has developed original projects for HBO, EVERYMAN THEATRE | 2

Drew Kopas and Dawn Ursula in Everyman’s 2017 production of Intimate Apparel. Photo by ClintonBPhotography.

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Showtime, This is That and Harpo. She is writer/producer on the Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, directed by Spike Lee. Nottage’s plays are produced worldwide. Her most recent play, Mlima’s Tale, premiered at the Public Theater in May 2018. Sweat (Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Tony Nomination, Drama Desk Nomination) moved to Broadway in spring 2017 after a sold out run at The Public Theater.

Nottage is currently writing the book for the world premiere musical adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, The Secret Life of Bees. It is set to premiere at the Atlantic Theatre Company starting May 10, 2019. She remains in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

IN HER WORDS On Reading, PA...

“It was a place that, for years, if you got off a bus, within an hour you could have a job. Within the course of maybe 30 years, those jobs began to disappear to the point where it had a staggering unemployment rate and was deemed the poorest city of its size in America.”

On Gathering Testimonials...

“It was over the course of a number of years, so some people we spoke to over great lengths and multiple times over the course of years. We did very short, five- to 10-minute interviews. There were people [with whom] we did half-hour interviews. And then there were people who we got to know, and over the years, we didn’t just do interviews, we had many conversations. We were able to peel away the layers and figure out what their personal struggles or triumphs were.”

On the Here and Now...

“There was a large swath of people across the country who were in a great deal of pain, and that story was not being told.

And I think that, unfortunately, the fact that we are where we are is because there are people who were shouting and who felt unheard, and as a result, they made some extreme decisions that have impacted and jeopardized all of us.”

On Moving Forward...

“We as a community must take care of each other. When we become fractured, and we retreat into our individual silos, we create these cultural collisions that destroy culture as a whole.

We have to figure out a way for all these disparate voices to stand in one place and find common ground.”

The Role of the Playwright Today...

“I resent the fact that in this day and age, [playwrights] are supposed to be invisible in the storytelling. I thought, it’s very rare in any other form that you’re asked to disappear. I think that now is the time, particularly as artists, that we have to take the initiative and really engage with the culture and say things that people really do not want to hear, in order to push the dial forward.”

On Coming Full Circle...

“We took the play to Reading. The entire cast. We did a very stripped-down version of it for a hundred folks in Reading, Pennsylvania, in their Miller theater. It was kind of an electric evening because the actors were very scared about portraying people in the town that absolutely were very familiar with a lot of the cultural references in the play. But at the very end, there were a ton of questions and people seemed to be quite moved. And it almost became like a revival meeting, in which people stood up and testified and told their personal stories about what they’re going through. It was very, very moving.”

FAST FAVORITES Color: Purple Food: Chocolate Quote: “Oh, Boy.”

Season: Fall, especially September Vacation Destination: Barbados

Lynn Nottage with her husband, Tony Gerber, and their daughter Ruby Gerber. Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.

Kate Whoriskey, Lynn Nottage, Alison Carey, and Sharryn Kasmir in an old bank building in Reading, Pa. Photo by Richard Duque, courtesy of American Theatre Magazine.

THE PLAY SETTING This story jumps back and forth between the present day (2008) and the recent past (the year 2000) in the small post-industrial city of Reading, Pennsylvania—currently the most impoverished city in the country. Staged in the months before September 11 and the global financial crisis of 2008, the bulk of the action takes place in the neighborhood bar over a five month period from July to November, 2000.

CONFLICT Disruptive changes at work—a large steel factory—incite new tensions testing once strong friendships and familial bonds. Lynn Nottage’s unflinching, Pulitzer Prize-winning slice-of-life drama was inspired by over two years of intense field research and first-person testimonials collected in Reading, Pennsylvania. Sweat captures the lethal combination of layoffs, lockouts, and picket lines that send a once-guaranteed middle class way of life into crisis.

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CHARACTERS

Denotes Relative Denotes Connection

Brucie

Cynthia

40’s, African-American; Cynthia’s husband and Chris’s father. Formerly employed at Olstead’s . Struggles with maintaining healthy relationships with his family due to post-layoff opioid

45/53, African-American; Chris’s mother and Brucie’s wife; works at Olstead’s alongside childhood friends Tracey and Jessie.

addiction.

“Don’t back away from what you want. That line is gonna thin out, and then what? That’s what I’m trying to figure out; and then what?!”

“I’ve stood on that line, same line, since I was nineteen. I’ve taken orders from idiots who were dangerous, or even worse, racist. But I stood on the line, patiently waiting for a break. I don’t think you get it, but if I walk away, I’m giving up more than a job….”

Objective:

Objective:

Obstacle:

Obstacle:

Tactic:

Tactic:

Evan

Chris

40’s, African American; Jason’s and Chris’s parole officer—2008

21/29, African-American; Cynthia’s and Brucie’s son. Employed at Olstead’s.

“Most folks think it’s the guilt or rage that destroys us in the end, but I know from experience that it’s shame that eats away until we disappear….but ‘whatcha gonna do about where you’re at right now?’ You hear me?”

Objective: Obstacle: Tactic:

“The machines are so...loud I can’t even think. It’s getting harder and harder to pull myself up and go to work every day.”

Objective: Obstacle: Tactic:

Stan 50’s, White American of German descent; barkeep at a local bar; laid off at Olstead’s post work injury.

“Bottom line, they don’t understand that human decency is at the core of everything.”

Objective: Obstacle: Tactic:

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Tracey

Jessie

45/53, White American of German descent; Jason’s widowed mother; friend of Cynthia and Jessie; factory worker nostalgic for the past.

40’s, Italian-American; a recently divorced factory worker; friend of Tracey and Cynthia. Medicates with alcohol.

“...that’s not how it works. Anyway. You gotta know somebody to get in. My dad worked there, I work there, and my son works there. It’s that kind shop.

Always been.”

Objective: Obstacle:

“I guess, I wish...I had gotten to see the world. You know, left Berks, if only for a year. That’s what I regret. Not the work, I regret the fact that for a little while it seemed like...there was possibility. I think about that Jessie on the other side of the world and what she woulda seen.”

Objective:

Tactic:

Obstacle: Tactic:

Jason 21/29, White American of German descent; Tracey’s son, deceased father.

Employed at Olstead’s.

“I plan on retiring from the plant when I’m like fifty with a killa pension and money to burn, buy a condo in Myrtle Beach, open a Dunkin’ Donuts and live my life.”

Objective: Obstacle:

EXTENSION ACTIVITY Read the definitions of objective, obstacle, and tactic.

Based on the definitions and quote provided, fill them in for each character.

Objective: What the character wants; the character’s goal.

Tactic:

Obstacle: The thing in the way of the character achieving his/her goal, or objective.

Tactic: The way the character goes about trying to overcome an obstacle.

Oscar 22/30, Columbian-American; busboy at a local bar. Desires employment at Olstead’s and is willing to cross the picket line for a job.

“My father, he swept up the floor in a factory like Olstead’s, [they] wouldn’t even give him a union card. But he woke up every morning at 4am because he wanted a job in a steel factory, it was the American way…. I know how he feels, people come in here every day. They brush by me without seeing me….”

Objective: Obstacle: Tactic: SWEAT PLAY GUIDE | 5

TIMELINE

HISTORY OF THE UNION

1881

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada (FOTLU) is founded at Turner Hall in Pittsburgh. It changed its name to the American Federation of Labor (AFL) on December 8, 1886.

1883

The Baltimore Federation of Labor (BFL), now an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor, is formed in Baltimore, Maryland.

1886

American Federation of Labor (AFL), is founded by Samuel Gompers in Colombus OH. At its pinnacle, the AFL had approximately 1.4 million members. The AFL is credited with successfully negotiating wage increases for its members and enhancing workplace safety for all workers.

Samuel Gompers

1936

The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) is founded. The CIO was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Created by John L. Lewis, who was a part of the United Mine Workers (UMW), it was originally called the Committee for Industrial Organization but changed its name in 1938 when it broke away from the American Federation of Labor over its opposition to industrial unionism. It also changed names because it was not successful with organizing unskilled workers with the AFL.

1955

AFL merges with the CIO to create the AFL-CIO. This merger has comprised the longest lasting and most influential labor federation in the United States to this day.

1994

The North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, is a three-country accord negotiated by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States is created.

It included two parts: the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC).

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Former President Gerald Ford, President Bill Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush at the kickoff event for NAFTA.

Trade unions are organizations formed by employees from related fields, united to protect and promote their common interests. They primarily help workers negotiate fair wages, a safe working environment, work hours and other benefits.

Unions regulate relations between its members and their employers, help settle grievances, and collectively enforce the terms of bargaining. They represent a cluster of workers and provide a link between the management and their employees.

2000

The U.S. Establishes Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China under Bill Clinton, despite U.S. Unions’ strong opposition.

2001

United Automobile Workers, UAW, loses an election to represent the workers of a Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. The defeat quashed attempts to organize the plants of foreign car makers in the United States. UAW membership continues to slide.

AZ

Nissan Automotive plant in Smyrna, Tennessee

2003

American Rights at Work is Founded in an effort to form a national non-profit advocacy group founded to promote the freedom of workers to join unions and bargain collectively.

2005

The Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, and five other activist unions leave the AFL-CIO to form a new labor coalition called Change to Win. The move represents a new emphasis on organizing workers to bring them into a labor movement starved for members.

2006

The United Steelworkers Union (USW) and the Sierra Club launch the Blue Green Alliance, a laborenvironmental coalition to expand the number and quality of jobs in the clean energy economy.

2008

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that union density in the United States has grown over the past two years, with a net gain of 759,000 members in 2007 and 2008.

Research: In Sweat, union membership takes centerstage. What role does a union play in these character’s lives? Examine the complexities of unionization. What are the benefits for the worker and why would an individual choose not to unionize? What significant change have occurred since 2008?

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Image courtesy of MarkManson.net

THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM Patrick J. Kiger, howstuffworks.com

B

y the time James Truslow Adams wrote his history of the United States in 1931—a book he had to be talked out of calling “The American Dream”—he and many others believed the dream was in serious danger. A land that had once been viewed as the land of opportunity was now mired in the Great Depression. The Depression had destroyed the fortunes of legions of self-made millionaires and cost Americans of humbler means their homes and jobs, forcing them to live in hobo camps and beg for spare change on street corners. Few believed President Herbert Hoover’s words that “prosperity was just around the corner.”

Hoover’s successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, launched an array of social programs to help the impoverished, and had better luck convincing Americans to believe they could improve their lots in life. In a January 1941 speech to Congress, Roosevelt articulated his own vision of a new, government-assisted American dream. This “dream” included full employment, government help for the elderly and those unable to work, and “enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.”

That vision of boundless prosperity started to look real again after the end of World War II. Thanks to an economy primed by massive amounts of military spending, the victorious United States emerged as the wealthiest, most powerful—and arguably, most envied—society on the planet. In the 1950s, Americans, who made up just six percent of the world’s population, produced and consumed one-third of its goods and services. Factories busily churned out products to meet the needs of an exploding population, wages rose, and increasingly affluent workers and their growing families moved into spacious new houses in the suburbs.

Many Americans in this new middle class embraced a belief in seemingly perpetual upward mobility. They believed that if EVERYMAN THEATRE | 8

they worked hard enough, life would continue to get better and better for them and for their offspring. To be sure, some social critics saw that dream as overly materialistic, spiritually empty, intellectually stifling and destructive. Others pointed out the fact that America wasn’t necessarily a land of opportunity for everyone, particularly those who belonged to racial and ethnic minorities.

[In the 1960s,] black Americans who’d long been denied the same rights and opportunities that white Americans took for granted, increasingly demanded their fair share. In a 1964 speech entitled “The American Dream,” civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., told an audience at New Jersey’s Drew University that America was “a dream yet unfulfilled” because of racial discrimination, poverty and violence. He said that instead of amassing more wealth, Americans’ dreams should be to make Thomas Jefferson’s statement that “all men are equal” into a reality by giving equal rights to minorities, rebuilding decaying inner cities, and working to eradicate hunger in poorer nations.

In 1980, Americans’ concern about the dream’s decline helped elect a U.S. President, Ronald Reagan, who promised to restore it. Reagan himself was an embodiment of the dream; the son of a humble farm family in Illinois, he’d risen to become a Hollywood movie star, a spokesman for General Electric and California governor. Reagan proclaimed that America was still a place where “everyone can rise as high and far as his ability will take him.”

Reagan’s formula for restoring the American dream was to cut taxes, which he argued would stimulate economic growth. He also aimed to reduce government social programs, which he believed discouraged self-reliance . The economy eventually did revive, and growing prosperity helped Reagan easily win reelection in 1984. But critics also pointed to ballooning government deficits, and questioned whether cutting taxes

Image courtesy of generations.com

really would revive the dream for most Americans, or only for the privileged few.

Between 1979 and 2005, the income of the bottom 99 percent of U.S. households grew 21 percent after taxes, a rate of less than one percent a year, not enough to keep up with inflation.

But during that same period, the after-tax income of the richest one percent of Americans grew by 225 percent. In 1979, the richest one percent made eight times as much as the typical middle-class family. In 2005, the richest made 21 times as much as the middle-class.

most importantly, to be good citizens in our communities. That, in a sense, is a return to James Truslow Adams’ 1931 definition of the American Dream as “a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature to which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”

Nevertheless, the debate about how to revive the American dream has continued. Conservatives call for cutting taxes, while liberals argue for raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for programs to help lift up the rest.

Meanwhile, a third group argues that the pain needs to be spread evenly, and that Americans need to rethink what the American dream really means. In a 2008 essay, Harvard professor John Quelch admonishes that “too many Americans have been expressing the Dream through the acquisition of stuff.” He urges them to see the dream as the freedom to pursue one’s career ambitions, to educate our children, and

Comprehension: How has the “American Dream” changed over the last century?

Reflection: What is your idea of the American Dream?

What do the characters’ of Sweat in this evolution?

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Image by McMillan Digital Art, courtesy of dailyburn.com

COPING MECHANISMS goodtherapy.org

C

oping mechanisms are the strategies people often use in the face of stress and/or trauma to help manage painful or difficult emotions.

Coping mechanisms can help people adjust to stressful events while helping them maintain their emotional well-being.

Significant life events, whether positive or negative, can cause psychological stress. Difficult events, such as divorce, miscarriage, the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job can cause most people to feel grief or distress. But even events that are considered positive by many—getting married, having a child, and buying a home—can lead to significant amounts of stress. To adjust to this stress, people may utilize some combination of behavior, thought, and emotion, depending on the situation.

People may use coping mechanisms for stress management or to cope with anger, loneliness, anxiety, or depression.

HOW ARE COPING MECHANISMS AND DEFENSE MECHANISMS DIFFERENT? Some may confuse defense mechanisms with coping mechanisms. Although these two concepts share some similarities, they are, in fact, different.

Defense mechanisms mostly occur at an unconscious level, and people are generally unaware they are using them. One’s use of coping mechanisms, on the other hand, is typically conscious and purposeful.

Coping mechanisms are used to manage an external situation that is creating problems for an individual. Defense mechanisms can change a person’s internal psychological state.

COPING STYLES AND MECHANISMS Coping styles can be problem-focused—also called instrumental—or emotion-focused. Problem-focused coping EVERYMAN THEATRE | 10

strategies are typically associated with methods of dealing with the problem in order to reduce stress, while emotion-focused mechanisms can help people handle any feelings of distress that result from the problem.

Further, coping mechanisms can be broadly categorized as active or avoidant. Active coping mechanisms usually involve an awareness of the stressor and conscious attempts to reduce stress. Avoidant coping mechanisms, on the other hand, are characterized by ignoring or otherwise avoiding the problem.

Some coping methods, though they work for a time, are not effective for a long-term period. These ineffective coping mechanisms, which can often be counterproductive or have unintended negative consequences, are known as “maladaptive coping.” Adaptive coping mechanisms are those generally considered to be healthy and effective ways of managing stressful situations.

TYPES OF COPING MECHANISMS Among the more commonly used adaptive coping mechanisms are: Support: Talking about a stressful event with a supportive person can be an effective way to manage stress. Seeking external support instead of self-isolating and internalizing the effects of stress can greatly reduce the negative effects of a difficult situation.

Relaxation: Any number of relaxing activities can help people cope with stress. Relaxing activities may include practicing meditation, progressive muscle relaxation or other calming techniques, sitting in nature, or listening to soft music.

Problem-solving: This coping mechanism involves identifying a problem that is causing stress and then developing and putting into action some potential solutions for effectively managing it.

Humor: Making light of a stressful situation may help people

maintain perspective and prevent the situation from becoming overwhelming.

Physical activity: Exercise can serve as a natural and healthy form of stress relief. Running, yoga, swimming, walking, dance, team sports, and many other types of physical activity can help people cope with stress and the aftereffects of traumatic events.

A short list of common maladaptive coping mechanisms includes: Escape: To cope with anxiety or stress, some people may withdraw from friends and become socially isolated. They may absorb themselves in a solitary activity such as watching television, reading, or spending time online.

Unhealthy self-soothing: Some self-soothing behaviors are healthy in moderation but may turn into an unhealthy addiction if it becomes a habit to use them to self-soothe.

Some examples of unhealthy self-soothing could include overeating, binge drinking, or excessive use of internet or video games.

Numbing: Some self-soothing behaviors may become numbing behaviors. When a person engages in numbing behavior, they are often aware of what they are doing and may seek out an activity that will help them drown out or override their distress. People may seek to numb their stress by eating junk food, consuming alcohol excessively, or using drugs.

Compulsions and risk-taking: Stress can cause some people to seek an adrenaline rush through compulsive or risk-taking behaviors such as gambling, unsafe sex, experimenting with drugs, theft, or reckless driving.

Self-harm: People may engage in self-harming behaviors in attempt to cope with extreme stress or trauma.

COPING MECHANISMS AND MENTAL HEALTH The use of effective coping skills can often help improve mental and emotional well-being. People who are able to adjust to stressful or traumatic situations (and the lasting impact these incidents may have) through productive coping mechanisms may be less likely to experience anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns as a result of painful or challenging events.

People who find themselves defaulting to maladaptive coping mechanisms and/or experience difficulty utilizing effective coping strategies may eventually see a negative impact on mental and emotional well-being. Those who have a difficult time knowing how to cope with anxiety, stress, or anger may fall into the habit of relying on a maladaptive coping mechanism. Consuming alcohol can often help people feel less stressed in the immediate moment, for example, but if a person comes to rely on alcohol, or any other substance, in the face of challenging situations, they may eventually become dependent on the substance over time.

If you experience stress and don’t know how to cope, a therapist or other mental health professional can often help you develop and improve your coping skills. Therapists can provide support and information about coping skills, and therapy sessions can be a safe, nonjudgmental environment for people to explore the coping methods they rely on and determine how they help or hinder stress management.

TRUTHS ABOUT TRAUMA AND ADDICTION Truth #1: Trauma is Defined by You

Psychological trauma is defined as something shocking and painful for you, not someone else. It’s “a deeply distressing or disturbing experience” for you. The definition is entirely subjective. If you thought it hurt, then it did.

Truth #2: Almost Everyone Has Trauma Almost everyone has trauma and painful emotional events. Potentially traumatic emotional events include: • • • • •

death of a loved one divorce abuse a medical diagnosis or chronic condition estranged relationships or highly problematic / unhealthy relationships • job loss • isolation “Before you pass judgment on one who is selfdestructing, it’s important to remember they usually aren’t trying to destroy themselves. They’re trying to destroy something inside that doesn’t belong.”

- J.M. Storm Truth #3: Your Beliefs Have the Power to Set You Free Healing from trauma means changing how you hold traumatic events in your consciousness.

If you believe that your trauma makes you a victim, someone who can’t be happy, then you’ll live in a way that “proves” that belief to be true. But if you decide that you are strong and resilient, someone who can overcome and go after what they want in life? Then you’ll live in a way that reflects that belief as well.

Comprehension: Explain the difference between coping mechanisms and defense mechanisms.

Reflection: Why might someone turn to destructive behaviors in an attempt to cope with trauma? Knowing what you know from this article, what are some ways that you could help to redirect a loved one to healthy coping strategies?

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Photo: Bethlehem Steel Mill in Sparrow’s Point. Photo courtesy of The Baltimore Sun

THE YEAR THE BOTTOM FELL OUT FOR STEEL

By Lydia Chavez, The Baltimore Sun, Jun 20, 1982

I

n an industry where triage has long been the norm and managements mete out their meager funds only to plants that clearly can survive, Baltimore’s steel business is deemed blessed. At Sparrows Point, site of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s largest steel mill, the huge steel company is halfway through a modernization plan. Not far away, Armco Inc. and the Eastmet Corporation have fitted their stainless steel divisions with newer equipment.

The steel mills at Baltimore are not the American steel industry’s most efficient, but they have been ticketed for success. ‘’Sparrows Point is a strategic plant for the industry,’’ the president of Bethlehem, Walter F. Williams, declares. In his estimation, the steel industry’s future lies at Sparrows Point because there the opportunity to become modernized, and thus more competitive, is truly within reach.

Or at least it was. In the past year, the bottom has fallen out for American steel, wounding Baltimore along with the rest. The recession now threatens its bright future to an extent almost no one had envisioned. A year or so ago, the word among steel people was that the industry’s long night was almost over. In the late 1970’s, they felt, companies had adopted such Draconian measures, closing mills and putting workers on the street, that the remaining plants could purr along at only 75 percent of capacity and still make money.

This was precisely the case in the first months of the recession. But instead of the progressive pickup in orders that analysts had forecast for this year, customers disappeared, orders evaporated, and the industry has had to slash its production to only 43 percent of capacity—the lowest level since Roosevelt’s second Administration. More than 75 million tons of capacity lies idle, another six million is for sale, and some of the remaining plants are sputtering along at a pitiful 35 percent of capacity.

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One-third of the industry’s more than 400,000 workers have been laid off and steel executives are now hoping that the United Steelworkers of America will provide some relief from higher wages. Seven out of 10 of the nation’s steel companies are expected to report losses for the first half, among them Bethlehem, Inland, National and Republic. The remaining companies, such as United States Steel, LTV and Armco, are barely breaking even.

Moreover, hopes for a recovery in the third quarter are now considered wishful thinking, according to both analysts and steel executives. Even companies with the foresight to modernize have been torn by this recession because searing interest rates have made the carrying costs on improvement loans inordinately high. ‘’As long as the recession stretches out, the pressures for closing plants get more extreme,’’ Robert Crandall, an economist at the Brookings Institution, said. ‘’The integrated companies are going to lose capacity, and there is no talk of expansion now.’’

Steel economists believe that this recession could take with it another 8 million to 17 million tons of the industry’s capacity, which represents about six plants and 50,000 jobs. Some of the capacity can be made up by upgrading other plants, but the jobs are a permanent loss to the industry.

Steel executives are not only worried that the industry will shrink. They also fear that the economy will continue to flounder, and a recovery will come too late and too timidly.

Such an outlook has produced a new pessimism in places like Baltimore, where only a year ago steel executives were optimistic. Instead of benefiting from their high-technology equipment, Baltimore’s plants are withering as the industry faces its driest year for orders in decades. Eastmet’s and Armco’s stainless steel mills have cut their payrolls in half since January and are still losing money. The modernization plan at Sparrows Point has been stalled at the halfway point,

the work force of 17,500 is down to 13,100, and many of the workers now manning the furnaces and rolling mills will celebrate the Fourth of July on one of the largest forced layoffs in the last year.

The industry’s turn from prosperity came as abruptly as an avalanche. At the end of 1980, Robert Nichols, a steel economist at Chase Econometrics, recalled, ‘’we had an absolute explosion in steel demand.’’ Steel companies were taking record orders and getting top prices from the oil industry, caught up in an exploration boom. Business from construction and auto companies slowed at the end of 1981, but the drop was considered tolerable because the trimmer industry—a result of awesome cuts in overhead during the 1970’s—could operate successfully at rates that just two years earlier would have meant losses.

But orders continued to fall. Oil companies stopped calling, steel imports rose to record levels, and in the past month the industry has fallen to its lowest operating rate since 1938. One could almost watch the output fall away: In August 1981, the industry was producing 10.1 million tons of steel a month; by December, only 7.7 million tons, and this month it is producing at the rate of 5.6 million tons. ‘’Sales are never great, they will never be great. I would never buy a steel stock,’’ William D. Busko, the marketing manager for the Eastern Stainless Steel Company, a division of Eastmet, vowed. Not that he doubts that his own company will turn around. It is just that he now sees no real growth for the industry. ‘’Why in the world would anyone want to buy a steel stock?’’ he asks, shrugging his shoulders. The problems with Baltimore’s steel industry are all the more agonizing because the three mills are close to being what the entire steel industry would like to be—efficient, modern and competitive. But continued losses could leave them disastrously behind competitors at home and abroad.

At Sparrows Point, the recession has prevented Bethlehem from proceeding with its plan to install a continuous caster—a piece of equipment that is as important to the efficiency of a plant as a touch-tone is to the speed of a telephone call.

The shortage of continuous casters in the United States is one reason why the Japanese can produce steel at prices that are at least $100 less per ton than American steel. About 75 percent of the steel made in Japan—compared with only 26 percent in the United States—is made on continuous casters, which combine several steel-making processes. ‘’The payback period on a continuous caster is only three years, and it is one of the only things that all steel mills should be putting in,’’ Charles Bradford, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, said.

A new caster would enable Sparrows Point to raise output by 10 percent and to improve the quality of its products—mainly, tin plate for the beverage and container industry. About 22 percent of the Sparrows Point production consists of tin mill products, which in the past five years have been usurped by aluminum in the beverage can market.

CLASSISM

Class: Relative social rank in terms of income, wealth, education, occupational status and/or power.

Classism: The institutional, cultural and individual set of practices and beliefs that assign differential value to people according to their socioeconomic class; and an economic system that creates excessive inequality and causes basic human needs to go unmet.

Status: Social status can be understood as the degree of honor or prestige attached to one’s position in society.

Ruling Class: People who hold positions of power in major institutions of the society.

Owning Class/Rich: Families who own enough incomeproducing assets to render paid employment unnecessary.

Upper-Middle Class: The portion of the middle class with higher incomes due to professional jobs and/or investment income.

Middle Class: Families for whom breadwinners’ higher education and/ or specialized skills brings higher income and more security than working class people have.

Lower-Middle Class: The portion of the middle class with lower and less stable incomes due to lower-skilled or unstable employment.

Working Class: Families whose income depends on hourly wages for labor, or on other non-managerial work or very small business activity that doesn’t require higher education.

Poverty Class: Families with incomes persistently insufficient to meet basic human needs.

Cultural Capital: The forms of knowledge, skill, education, or any other advantages a person has that give her or him a higher status in society.

Social Capital: Resources based on group membership, relationships, networks of influence and support.

Internalized Classism: Acceptance and justification of classism by working-class and poor people, such as feelings of inferiority to higher-class people, hostility and blame toward other working-class or poor people, and beliefs that classist institutions/policies are fair are all examples of internalized subordination. Feelings of superiority to people lower on the class spectrum than oneself, a sense of entitlement, rationalizations of classist policies and institutions on the part of middle class and people on the upper end of the class spectrum are examples of internalized domination. Both internalized subordination and internalized dominance are manifestations of internalized classism.

Class Privilege: One of the many tangible or intangible unearned advantages of higher-class status, such as personal contacts with employers, good childhood health care, inherited money, speaking the same dialect and accent as people with institutional power.

Lacking the continuous caster, Sparrows Point is unable to produce steel that can be used to make a two-piece can, a SWEAT PLAY GUIDE | 13

OCTOBER 10, 1951: A worker in the blast furnace at Bethlehem Steel Co. In the 1950s, the Sparrows Point plant in Baltimore County was the world’s largest steel mill. Photo by Robert F. Kniesche/Baltimore Sun.

product that is crucial if Bethlehem wants to sell to the beverage industry.

The Sparrows Point tin plate production also illustrates another problem of the industry—the competition from other materials.

In little more than half a decade the aluminum industry has managed to capture 85 percent of the beverage can market, in part because the steel industry could not produce a competitive product.

The aluminum industry is now expected to initiate an equally aggressive fight for the canned food market now dominated by the steel industry, analysts said. Such developments have made other tin plate producers decide to bow out early. Much of the steel produced at National Steel’s Weirton, W. Va., plant, for example, is tin plate, and the company has decided that prospects for the market are so bad that it will sell the plant to the employees or slowly close it.

Modern equipment does not always insure profitability.

Eastmet’s Eastern stainless steel unit invested more than $50 million in the last five years to install an electric furnace and other equipment that would make it more competitive. But in 1980, as it was plugging in the furnace, electricity rates nearly doubled. Eastern’s fuel bill stayed at $1 million a month until Baltimore Gas and Electric’s rates rose again in January and lifted Eastern’s bill by about $300,000 a month. The $1.3 million is equal to the company’s monthly losses.

In addition, Eastern cannot take advantage of the plant’s improved efficiency as long as the order books are blank. The mill sells most of its production to the industrial construction market, which is not expected to recover until 1983 or 1984. ‘’The next six months are going to be very difficult,’’ said George R. Walsh, chairman of Eastmet, the parent company. ‘’Our feeling is that efforts being made to stimulate the economy are not going to be fruitful.’’ He believes that the company can hang on because of its low debt position, but Washington’s long budget debate has left him weary. Other plants that completed modernization find themselves whipsawed and EVERYMAN THEATRE | 14

in worse shape than they would have been otherwise. New capacity lies idle because of the recession, and high interest rates on the borrowing required for modernization lifted carrying costs.

Inland Steel, for example, which has its only mill in the Chicago area, spent $1 billion during the past five years to lift its capacity by 13 percent. It added the country’s most technically advanced blast furnace and other equipment, which will help it when the market returns. But Inland is now losing as much as $16 million a month, analysts said.

The steel industry, especially specialty steelmakers like Armco and Eastmet, have had a difficult year with imports. ‘’We have two major problems: the economy and imports,’’ Jack Barnett, sales manager of Armco’s stainless steel division, said. ‘’But imports is our biggest problem. We have to operate at 50 percent of capacity to break even, and if we were able to get our fair share, we would be breaking even.’’

Armco’s main product at the Baltimore plant is stainless steel bar. Shipments of steel bar were only 174 tons less in the first quarter of this year when compared to the first quarter of 1981.

Imports, however, rose to 26.9 percent of the market in the first quarter of 1982, up from 16 percent in the same period last year.

The industry would like the re-establishment of quotas—a system used for three years and eight months until 1980. Mr. Barnett said that without some help, Armco’s Baltimore mill will have a hard time surviving.

The major steel companies have also had their problems with imports. The biggest aggravation came last month when imports were rising as domestic production was falling. In August, domestic production fell slightly, to 10.1 million tons, while imports doubled, to 2.23 million tons. The industry filed countervailing duty suits and the Commerce Department recently said that it will impose duties on European steel imports.

At this point, however, the recession is clearly more burdensome than imports. Even if the 4 million tons a year of steel from Europe stopped altogether, the steel industry would only be able to raise its rate of capacity to 51 percent—a rate that is still too low for the industry to make a profit.

While modernization and relief from imports are considered critical to the industry’s success, there are some who believe it is the labor costs that will have to decline if the steel industry is to survive. Merrill Lynch’s Mr. Bradford estimates that wage increases in the United States have averaged two times the rate in Germany and 1.5 times the rate in Japan while productivity gains have stayed far behind.

BALTIMORE TURNS FROM STEEL Everyone in Baltimore seems to revel in the city’s newly renovated inner harbor, where shops, boutiques and restaurants now flourish. It is a symbol of the city’s rebirth from an industrial Eastern city to one that would like to be supported by high technology companies and a bustling service industry.

It is not that the county’s steel mills are characterized as a drag on the city—they still employ 2 percent of the metropolitan area’s working residents—but no one looks to the steel industry for the city’s growth anymore. ‘’What we have seen for many years is a decline in employment from the steel mills, and it is what we will continue to see,’’ Bernard Berkowitz, director of the Baltimore Economic Development Corporation, said.

A decade ago Sparrows Point employed nearly 30,000 steelworkers, compared with the 17,000 who now work at the plant, he said. When its modernization is complete, Sparrows Point will lose another 2,500 workers, according to Bethlehem Steel. Others, including the local unions, put the figure as high as 6,000.

Already the county is studying the retraining problems that it can expect when large numbers of the younger steel workers suddenly lose their jobs.

The Bethlehem Steel company at Sparrows Point in 2003. Photo by Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun.

Steel executives assert that management now especially needs help from the nation’s 300,000 steelworkers—a third of whom are on indefinite layoffs. Presidents of local unions met in Pittsburgh last Friday, but agreed only to a weak resolution authorizing the union’s leadership to discuss ‘’problems with the industry.’’

If the locals in Baltimore are any indication of what help the steel industry can expect from the United Steelworkers of America, it can expect none. Despite layoffs of nearly 5,000 in their own mills, the three locals seem adamantly opposed to any concessions or reopening of the contract. ‘’If you go to the well and it’s empty, you are not going to create jobs,’’ Edward Bartee, president of Local 2609, said last week. ‘’As far as I am concerned, concessions do not create jobs. The company wants us to help finance the health plan that was one of the things we got in a 115-day strike, and there is no way we are going to give it up.’’

At times the bravado of the rank and file is startling. ‘’I would rather have the mill shut down than give concessions,’’ said Marcella Richardson, a welder at Sparrows Point for the last four years. The suggestion that Bethlehem Steel will lose money for the first half is met with repeated skepticism. ‘’And they are likely to make a lot of money by the end of the year,’’ said John Thackson, who has been laid off for the last six months.

The frustrating fits and starts of the Baltimore steel industry only exasperate the industry’s problems. Just when there is the possibility of catching up to competitors, steelmakers are thrown into a recession. It is a cycle that has made every major steel company, except Bethlehem, spend a big chunk of capital to diversify.

The business community’s desire to lessen Baltimore’s dependence on the steel industry is one that is common in other steel towns such as Pittsburgh and Fairfield, Ala., where steel once reigned supreme. In some respects, it is an attitude that has served those cities well.

When Fairfield’s mill was closed last month by the United States Steel Corporation and 6,000 employees were laid off, the mayor could proudly claim that it did not matter so much.

The plant had already been usurped by the local telephone company and university as the city’s largest employer.

Mr. Berkowitz said that Baltimore’s business leaders would like to attract more high technology companies. In addition, he talked about capitalizing on the expertise at Johns Hopkins University, which has one of the nation’s foremost medical schools, to attract companies in the growth field of biotechnology.

This attitude is clearly understood by those who have worked in the mills all of their lives. Edward Bartee, president of a local steel union, responds confidently when asked if he would like any of his six children to work at Sparrows Point. ‘’Not particularly. I don’t think there is a future in steel,’’ he said. ‘’With automation coming we are going to lose even more jobs.”

Comprehension: What factors contributed to Bethlehem Steele’s decline?

Reflection: What other industries have experienced this same deindustrialization? What other areas of the country have been uniquely impacted? Where do we see these tensions evident in Sweat?

Research: What organization is now housed in Bethlehem Steel’s old buildings?

SWEAT PLAY GUIDE | 15

Bill Jamieson talks about the set mechanics during first rehearsal.

CURTAINS UP ON CAREERS:

TECHNICAL DIRETOR Interview with Everyman Theatre Technical Director, Bill Jamieson

Where are you from originally and when did you first develop an interest in theatre?

I was born in Michigan. My father was in the US Navy when I was growing up so we moved around a lot. I lived in Georgia, Connecticut, Washington State, Sicily, Florida, and Virginia. I moved to Maryland to attend St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and I have been here ever since. When I was fourteen, I started volunteering as a technician at the Orange Park Community Theatre in Orange Park, Florida, where I was also took some theatre classes and got to do some acting. I moved to Virginia Beach for most of high school, and I was lucky enough to go to a high school with a very robust theatre program with some amazing, dedicated teachers. I did a lot of acting and tech work there. When I started college, I decided to hang up my acting shoes and focus on learning how do design, build, and paint scenery.

What responsibilities does a Technical Director hold?

The responsibilities can vary a lot from one company to another, but in general I am responsible for converting the designs created by the set designer into real, threedimensional scenery made of wood, steel, and other materials.

If the scenery has to move or do tricks, I figure out how to motivate and control the movements—whether it is a computer-controlled motor or a stagehand pulling on a rope.

At Everyman, I also help supervise and coordinate the lighting, sound, and props teams to make sure that we are all working in concert. I get to work with a fantastic team of dedicated professionals every day to make the production magic happen.

What skills do you suggest cultivating if interested in this type of job?

My advice to anyone interested in getting into this field, is first and foremost to get as much hands-on experience EVERYMAN THEATRE | 16

building scenery as possible. On top of that, it helps to have an understanding of theatre and acting as a whole, and scenic design in particular. A solid dose of math, geometry, and a little engineering can’t hurt. Then there are skills such as drafting, effective communication, budgeting, and time management. Finally, there is learning to be an administrator and a manager of other people.

How does the team work together to support the massive effort of each design element coming to fruition?

We have to make sure we keep talking to each other. A piece of scenery will often have lights or speakers built into it, or props that have to interact with it, or even a costume piece that has to store in or on it. Each department works closely with the others. And in the scene shop itself, the different carpenters and artisans are always pitching in to help each other out with ideas or just an extra set of hands. One of our goals is always to make sure that the actors feel safe and comfortable on the set so that they can focus on their part of the job. The main thing is that we make sure we are all working together toward the common goal of telling the story on stage. When we keep this in mind, we can create things that are much greater than the sum of their parts.

Reflecting on the themes of Sweat, how do you personally connect to this story?

I sometimes think that, if my family hadn’t moved away from Michigan, I could very easily have been like one of the young people in Sweat in the year 2000—a couple of years out of high school, starting a job in an industry that was about to experience a massive decline. It’s easy for me to put myself in their shoes and wonder what choices I would have made in a similar situation. As a supervisor, I try to advocate for my employees and make sure that their needs are met. We try

Carl Schurr and Megan Anderson in Everyman’s 2003 production of Proof. Photo by Stan Barouh.

to treat our employees well because it is the right thing to do, and it helps them stay invested in what they are doing so that they give their best effort every time.

When building and constructing this season, how has the team prepared to “get ahead of the game”?

We accomplish a lot of things in a short time frame, and we have a lot of tricks up our sleeve for doing this. For instance, sometimes we will only have a couple of days to change from one set to the next, so we build our set floors in layers. Sweat will feature a revolving stage. We built the revolving stage over the summer; then we built the set for Dancing at Lughnasa on top of the floor for Sweat. That way we just pull up the floor for Lughnasa and in a matter of a couple of hours we are ready to install all of the walls and other pieces that make up the Sweat set. Sometimes we will be working on pieces of two or even three shows at the same time in the shop. The logistics can be challenging, but it means that we are ready to go when the cast comes on stage and we start technical rehearsals.

What are the biggest challenges faced daily by production at Everyman Theatre?

Limited time and limited space (with limited budgets being right behind). We are constantly playing a three-dimensional game of Tetris as we move scenery around between framing, finishing, and painting jobs, all the while trying to get everything done on time and on budget. But it builds very good spatial awareness skills for us.

What is the most fulfilling part of watching all of the elements come together?

For me, the real satisfaction is when everything comes together to tell a really compelling, meaningful story.

Sometimes it is the moments with very little tech that are the most compelling—when all you are aware of is the actors and their words. And sometimes the most satisfying moments happen when the things that were really challenging to pull off—for instance the wall that pivoted open to reveal a sort of hidden room during The Book of Joseph last season—happen in a fluid, beautiful, way in concert with all of the other elements.

There is a real satisfaction in seeing a project that took many days and weeks of planning, fabrication, and testing come to life on the stage.

Beth Hylton and Bruce Randolph Nelson in Everyman’s 2015 production of Blithe Spirit. Photo by ClintonBPhotography.

Is there a favorite show you have worked on or a piece you are especially proud of?

I have been at Everyman for almost 17 years, so my favorites stretch back a bit. I just loved Proof. The Brother’s Size is a definite favorite—I could have watched both of the shows over and over. Blithe Spirit is a favorite for me because that was the first show for which I built an automated rig, and I got to build a lot of the other special effects too—books being knocked off of shelves, chandeliers falling into pianos, a dancing sofa. The work I did on Blithe Spirit led directly to our ability to do other shows with computer controlled, motor driven effects, such as those used in Los Otros, The Revolutionists, The Book of Joseph, and now Sweat. And those effects are one more tool that we can use to tell our stories, which is what really matters.

What you wish you could tell your high school self now that you know what you know.

Are you kidding? My high school self wouldn’t listen to anybody. He had to figure things out the hard way. But if I had to, I would tell him to learn to tie a proper clove hitch and a bowline knot. He really could have used those.

EXTENSION PROJECT Dramaturg meets Costume Designer: Visual Storytelling

Create a collage that represents the prompt from which this play was born. The Oregon Shakespeare Theatre commissioned Lynn Nottage to write a play exploring American Revolution. The answer, Sweat. Now that you have seen Sweat, choose one character and using text, pictures, textures, colors, shapes, and lines, create a visual storyboard expressing the mood and personhood of that character’s revolution in the play.

SWEAT PLAY GUIDE | 17

GLOSSARY Albright: Albright College is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college. It was founded in 1856 and is located in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. artisanal: pertaining to or noting a high-quality or distinctive product made in small quantities, usually by hand or using traditional method.

Aryan Brotherhood: a white supremacist and Neo-Nazi prison gang and organized crime syndicate in the United States with an estimated 15,000–20,000 members in and out of prison. aspirations: a goal or objective that is strongly desired; often in reference to a career goal. banger: slang for a gangster or thug.

B&B: an abbreviation for “bed and breakfast.” beef: to have a grudge or start one with another person. blunt: cigar hollowed out and filled with marijuana. buena suerte: Spanish for good luck. bunion: when the joints of the big toe bone and the pinky toe bone become deformed and point out in opposite directions of the foot.

jacking: to lift or move something with or as if with a jack. For instance jacking up a car.

Joni Mitchell: Roberta Joan Mitchell, born November 7, 1943, professionally known as Joni Mitchell, is a Canadian singersongwriter popular in the late 1960s and 1970s. Drawing from folk, pop, rock, and jazz, Mitchell’s songs often reflect social and environmental ideals as well as her feelings about romance, confusion, disillusionment, and joy. knock on wood: a superstitious expression that is used in the hope that a good thing will continue to occur even after its mentioned.

Kodiak: an island of southern Alaska in the Gulf of Alaska east of the Alaska Peninsula population 13,592 lockout: a temporary work stoppage or denial of employment initiated by the management of a company during a labor dispute (different from a strike in which employees refuse to work). mantra: a statement or phrase said repeatedly, often ceremoniously; rooted in the original Sanskrit translation, which literally means a thought behind speech or action.

crib: slang for home, domicile, or dwelling.

MBA: Master of Business Administration postgraduate degree that is awarded to students who have mastered the study of business. Students of MBA programs study the theory and application of business and management principles.

dope: slang for a drug taken illegally for recreational purposes; conversely, can also be used to describe something as cool.

moxie: slang meaning force of character, determination, or nerve.

dunno: slang for don’t know

NAFTA: acronym for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was instituted in January 1994 by President Bill Clinton. The agreement intended to encourage economic activity among The United States, Mexico, and Canada by eliminating tariffs on most goods traded within these countries.

cannery: a factory for the canning of foods.

dyslexic: having Dyslexia—a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding).

Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language. franchise: a type of business that is owned and operated by individuals (franchisees) but that is branded and overseen by a much larger—usually national or multinational—company (the franchisor).

‘Nam: slang used by veterans to refer to the Vietnam War between North Vietnam and South Vietnam (and its ally, the United States), which lasted 1955-1975. It was a costly and highly divisive war that resulted in more than 3 million deaths.

fury: unrestrained or violent anger, rage.

nostalgia: a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

Gimlet: A cocktail typically made of 2 parts gin, 1 part lime juice, and soda.

opa: a Greek exclamation that is heard often in the celebration of life.

green stamps: slang for money spent on booze, women, drugs, anything.

overhead: the costs a business will incur at the same amount regardless of output/income; for example, lighting, heating, rent, etc.

grind: when an individual pushes his/herself to attain a goal.

Harley: short for the brand name Harley Davidson; American motorcycle manufacturer, founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903. hit up: slang to describe a way of making connections; to demand for something; to call on the phone hustling: slang for making money; mostly references areas where people don’t have much. intuit: to guess but with greater confidence and less foundation.

EVERYMAN THEATRE | 18

Panama Canal: an artificial 50 mile waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade.

Penn: the University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a private Ivy League research university located in the University City section of West Philadelphia. phat: acronym for “pretty hot and tempting;” used to express approval of something. Popular in the mid-late 90’s.

scab: a worker, often temporary, who crosses a strikers’ picket line, going to work in place of the strikers. shade: slang used to describe a light comment with slight disrespect towards an individual. sheetrock: a plasterboard made of gypsum layered between sheets of heavy paper; used in building construction for walls.

Spic: racial slur for people of Latino descent. steel tubing: steel tube is strong, tough and durable. It can be round, square or rectangular. Steel tubing often incorporates different alloys such as aluminum, manganese, titanium and tungsten.

DEEPER DIVE

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swagger: slang used to describe how one presents him or her self to the world; swagger is shown from how the person handles a situation. It can also be shown in the person’s walk. sweating me: slang used to describe when someone is all up in your business, asking you several questions. tats: slang for tattoos. temps: a temporary employee, typically an office worker who finds employment through an agency. the line: a boundary established by workers on strike, especially at the entrance to the place of work, that others are asked not to cross. Also referred to as the picket line. till: a money drawer in a store or bank; also, a cash register. tripping: slang for when someone is overreacting or getting all bent out of shape over something small. union: an organized association of workers formed to protect and further their rights and interests; a labor union. union rep: a union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of her/his fellow employees as a labor union member and official vortex: a mass of whirling fluid or air, especially a whirlpool or whirlwind; casually used to describe any situation that is or can be messy, disastrous, or dangerous.

LOCATIONS MENTIONED

warlock: a man who practices witchcraft; a sorcerer. whassup?: A question as to the state of somebody’s well being; a warm greeting; a slang version of the question, “What is up?”

Reading, PA

white hats: used in reference to a good or moral person, especially the hero in a movie, novel, or play word: a slang form of the phrase “my word is my bond,” which was originated by inmates in U.S. prisons. The longer phrase was shortened to “word is bond” before becoming “word,” which is most commonly used. It basically means “truth” or “to speak the truth.” yo: slang used as an informal address or title to one whose name is not known to another; quick way to address someone without using their name. you feel me?: Slang for “I know!” or “I agree” or “Get it?” or “You understand?”

SWEAT PLAY GUIDE | 19

YOUR THOUGHTS...

Use this space to jot down any thoughts that arise before, during, and/or after the performance. You can bring this with you to the theater and log your thoughts during intermission or on the bus after the show. Then, bring this to the Post-Show Workshop to share with a guest artist.

I was surprised by/when…

The most memorable scene was when… because...

I was impacted most by the scene where...

I was confused by… or I wonder why...

SOURCES

Sources used to curate this Play Guide include... http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/lynn-nottage-41 http://www.lynnnottage.com/about.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lynn-nottage-sweat_us_58dd6566e4b08194e3b87de1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_organisation#Labour_unions http://www.generations.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/american-dream-infographic.jpg?w=300 https://people.howstuffworks.com/american-dream2.htm https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/coping-mechanisms http://www.theclearingnw.com/blog/top-10-truths-trauma-and-addiction https://nccj.org/classism-0 https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1982/06/20/221282.html

THIS PLAY GUIDE CREATED BY Brianna McCoy, Director of Education & Community Engagement Lisa Langston, Education Program Manager Brenna Horner, Lead Teaching Artist Karim Darwish, Education Apprentice Katherine Marmion, Graphic Designer EVERYMAN THEATRE | 20

EVERYMAN THEATRE IS LOCATED AT 315 W. Fayette St. Baltimore, MD 21201 Box Office 410.752.2208 Administration 443.615.7055 Email boxoffice@everymantheatre.org

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT If you have questions about the Play Guide, contact our Education Department at education@everymantheatre.org or 443.615.7055 x7142

THEATRE ETIQUETTE When you come and see a play, remember to...

Respectfully enjoy the show.

While we encourage you to laugh when something is funny, gasp if something shocks you, and listen intently to the action occurring, please remember to be respectful of the performers and fellow audience members.

Please turn off or silence all electronic devices before the performance begins.

There is no texting or checking your cell phone during the show. The glow of a cell phone can and will be seen from stage.

Photography inside the theatre is strictly prohibited.

Food and drinks are not allowed in the theatre.

Food and drinks should be consumed in the Everyman lobby before or after the show, or during intermission.

Be Present.

Talking, moving around, checking your phone, or engaging in other activities is distracting to everyone and greatly disrupts the performance’s energy.

Stay Safe.

Please remain seated and quiet during the performance. Should you need to leave for any reason, re-entrance to the theatre is at the discretion of the house manager. In case of an emergency, please follow the instructions shared by Everyman staff members.

Continue the conversation.

After your performance, find Everyman Theatre on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and use #bmoreeveryman to tell us what you thought!

In this production, please be aware of...

Strong Language and Racial Slurs Simulated Physical Violence Strong themes

CURRICULAR TIE-INS From the stage to the classroom...

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.C Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives.

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS Anchor Standard #6. Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Anchor Standard #7. Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Anchor Standard #8. Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.

Anchor Standard #11. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding.

SWEAT PLAY GUIDE | 21

DESIGN YOUR OWN PRODUCTION IMAGERY

For each production at Everyman, our Marketing Department works with artist Jeff Rogers to create imagery that conveys a visual story. What story does the Sweat artwork on the cover convey?

Now it’s your turn! Think about the play, Sweat, and design a new image to brand the show. Keep in mind, this image could be used on poster, advertisements, billboards, television, on social media, etc.

Share your reactions to the performance using #bmoreeveryman.