Sweat

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Setting the Scene Dramaturgically”

Sweat specifically takes place in Reading, Pennsylvania, in both 2000 and 2008. At the beginning of each scene, the text gives the specific date and important current news stories. In this activity, students will act as dramaturgs, tracing the play through time and place and making a visual timeline to set the scene and cultural context.

Dramaturgy refers to the study and analysis of a dramatic text through the lens of elements that translate into performance and staging. The visual timeline that you will create in this activity will be helpful to the director, actors, designers, and even the audience.

Part A: As a Class

• Trace and make note of the date and news stories mentioned at the beginning of each scene.
• Create a timeline that graphically represents both 2000 and 2008 as they are presented parallel to each other in the play. Your timeline should show the structure of the play.
• Break into groups, pairs, or individuals (depending on class size), and divide the scenes among these units.

Part B: As Individuals/Pairs/Groups

• For each entry, reread the scene and research the news stories mentioned and the time period.
• Make a visual display of the date and year, including images, and add your own significant information about the date. For instance, what songs were popular? What movies came out? What was happening in national and international news?
• What is the scene about? How does this information provide context for this specific scene? Draw those connections and include them in your timeline display.
• As a class, put those timeline entries together into the structure you made in Part A. Each individual/pair/group should present and share their entry or entries to the class.

Teaching Suggestion: The purpose of this activity is to show how this research and understanding of history is important in creating the world of the play.

Differentiation Suggestion: For theatre students, you might gear this activity toward individual disciplines. Consider placing students in groups to form mini-production teams. Designers might make sketches of the scene. Actors might create character profiles and/or map out character objectives and tactics. Directors might outline how they would conceptualize and block the scene. Dramaturgs might delve deeper into the research and sketch out how they would present the information to audiences, actors, and other members of the production team. Technical directors might choose one element of the scenery and provide schematics on how to build or create it. Stage managers might coordinate with designers to create a list of cues. To achieve this, you may decide to focus on a smaller number of scenes instead of the entire play, depending on class sizes. Students should identify how the research affected their individual work on the project.