Reflection on Sweat

I felt that the play, Sweat shows a broken America and how we have never really changed from it. The actors, stage development, music, even the smells added to the whole aesthetic of the play. It allowed the audience to be immersed into the play, to feel as each character did. It also presented the audience with a sense of “evidence” to what happened to millions of families as jobs were being taken from them and given to people outside their own country. Within this overarching issue the play managed to also show that the underbelly of the issue seems to be race. The racially targeted comments to Cynthia after she got her promotion and the shift in her friendships; the comments towards the Latin American groups and by making a bartender- Oscar, Latin American, shows the audience the innocence to the two characters actions, as well as the racial issues being built into American history. Middle America today seems to believe that the color of one’s skin and the ethnicity presented by ones features is why they (Middle Americans) don’t have jobs- these ideas are greatly showed in the characters- Tracey and Jason. Their aggressive beliefs and actions shows the worst of what America has become. Furthermore by leaving the play on a cliffhanger the audience is left wondering and wanting more. It opens a conversation by forcing the audience to actually think about how the play could have ended, straying to the idea that America today is no different.