Sweat

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. One of the major issues in Sweat is NAFTA, the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which led to outsourcing jobs to other countries. What is NAFTA? How did it affect people living in the United States?

Teaching Suggestion: High school and college (or even older) students may know very little or nothing about NAFTA. Group brainstorming may help in collectively piecing together information and speculation; it might be helpful to provide these or similar resources with the guiding discussion topic of what NAFTA meant to the average person in the United States. This connects to the theme of The Human Cost of Production (and Outsourcing).

• This video from Quartz, “NAFTA Explained by Avocados. And Shoes.” gives a clear explanation of how NAFTA worked and how it affected regular people in positive and negative ways.
• Since the play takes place in 2000 and 2008, this video, “Terrorism, War, and Bush 43,” from Crash Course US History sets the scene of the world of the play. For the history that continues into 2008 and beyond, the next episode is “Obamanation.” These broader histories are helpful for understanding the news stories that frame the play.

2. What is the Rust Belt in the United States? How did it evolve from the Steel Belt, and what is life like for those who live there?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may have biases and preconceived notions of the Rust Belt, also known as Middle America or flyover country. A discussion about the lives and hardships there can help students to understand why Nottage chose to write a play about the people who live there. This connects to the themes of Nostalgia and Loyalty Versus Aspiration and Change and Shame, Blame, and Scapegoating.

• In this video, Lynn Nottage discusses her process of putting the people of Reading, Pennsylvania, onstage, and she holds a talkback with residents after a performance of Sweat.
• This article from Time magazine, “Our Collective Ignorance About the Rust Belt Is Getting Dangerous,” argues that stereotypes about the Rust Belt are both misleading and dangerous, and discusses the history of the Rust Belt and the people who live there.

Short Activity

Imagine that you are writing a play about your town or school. Choose a specific aspect of your town or local event that you find noteworthy and write three interview questions designed to solicit another person’s perspective on that aspect or event. Find a partner and interview them. Write down their answers.

Teaching Suggestion: You might decide to direct the activity by choosing a specific event or aspect of the town or school yourself. It might be a hot topic or simply a situation that the students share, like the expense of higher education.

• In this interview, Lynn Nottage describes how she chose Reading, Pennsylvania, as a subject for the play.
• In this video, the Broadway cast of Sweat talks about the complexity of the characters they play, and how they give life to these complicated people onstage.
• In this interview, Lynn Nottage shares the images and songs that inspired her while writing the play.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English language learners, you may wish to provide sentence frames for typical interview questions. For example: “How did you feel when you learned about __________? Why did you feel that way? How do you think the situation might have been handled differently?”

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the play.

What does the American Dream mean to you? Do you believe that it’s achievable? What are the obstacles that get in your way, and what would it look like for you personally to reach it? What are you willing to do to get there?

Teaching Suggestion: This might work well as a free-writing prompt. It’s helpful for students to think about what they want and what they would do to get it in order to understand the characters in the play. It’s okay if their version of the “American Dream” is personal and differs from the intended meaning of the phrase.

• In this video, John Green of Crash Course History asks, “Is the American Dream Real?” and considers some of the socioeconomic realities of capitalism.
• At this website, PBS American Portrait provides a collage of people who are describing their personal American Dream.