Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
New York-based actor/director Shaun Tubbs, a Wright State University acting alumnus, has returned to campus to direct Lynn Nottage’s 2017 Tony nominated and Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary drama “Sweat,” slated Feb. 10-20 in the Festival Playhouse of the Creative Arts Center.
Set in 2000 and 2008 in Reading, Pennsylvania, the relevant, timely play concerns industrial workers facing the end of their livelihoods as their factory jobs disappear. Issues of race and class collide as friendships are tested with life-changing repercussions.
“These (characters) are people I know and grew up with,” said Tubbs, a Cleveland native. “And I know what it’s like to put time, energy and effort into a job you may not want or love, but it’s a job that becomes so important because it’s all you have to keep you moving forward. Dayton understands the loss of jobs as well having industries that moved out.”
The theme of community also resonates for Tubbs. He says he’s driven by the play placing more emphasis on the effect of circumstances within the workplace rather than the cause.
“Some plays are set in factories, and you hear the effect of how people are responding (to certain situations), but you don’t get to see how it effects their everyday lives, especially at work,” he said. “But ‘Sweat’ brings (characters) together when they leave work, when they’re among friends. These characters are living in their pain. They don’t know what to do. They’ve never had or needed to go to the (executives) and voice their opinions and frustrations. They never felt safe or secure to do so in fear of losing their job. They need someone to fight so they fight each other.”
