Cast Announced for East Coast Debut of Lynn Nottage's SWEAT at Arena Stage

The new drama Sweat by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined; By The Way, Meet Vera Stark) comes to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater following a critically-acclaimed debut at Oregon Shakespeare Festival as part of a co-commission between the two theaters. Hailed by The New York Times as an "extraordinarily moving drama" that "brims with the kind of ripe, richly imagined life associated with the work of the great August Wilson," the play is directed by Nottage's longtime collaborator Kate Whoriskey and runs January 15-February 21, 2016 in the Kreeger Theater.

Sweat is a result of extensive interviews conducted by Nottage and Whoriskey, who spent two years visiting and interviewing residents of Reading, Pennsylvania, which was named the nation's poorest city in 2011. Set in 2000 and 2008, the play explores America's industrial decline at the turn of the millennium with a look inside Reading, where a group of close friends shares everything: drinks, secrets and laughs. But when rumors of layoffs shake up the local steel mill, the fragile bonds of their community begin to fray and a horrific crime sends shock waves across two generations.

As previously announced, Jack Willis (Arena's Mother Courage and Her Children, President Lyndon Baines Johnson in Arena's upcoming All the Way) and Tony Award nominee Kimberly Scott (Joe Turner's Come and Gone at Arena and on Broadway) reprise their roles of Stan and Cynthia, respectively. Also reprising roles they originated for the Oregon world premiere are Kevin Kenerly as Brucie, Stephen Michael Spencer as Jason, Tramell Tillman as Chris and Tyrone Wilson as Evan.

Joining the company for the D.C. production are Tony Award nominee Johanna Day (Broadway's You Can't Take It With You, Arena's Good People) as Tracey and Reza Salazar as Oscar. Casting for the role of Jessie will be announced at a later date.

"Arena is excited to have partnered with Oregon Shakespeare Festival on the co-commissioning of Sweat by Lynn Nottage," shares Artistic Director Molly Smith. "Lynn has written a deeply important play which speaks profoundly to the American working class, with a focus on a community of steelworkers. In the midst of a national conversation about unions and their function in our country, her play explodes with vitality and power. We're thrilled to bring this production to our audience here in D.C., America's most political city."

"The genius in Lynn's writing is that the style defines the subject," says Whoriskey. "The how defines the what. In writing a play, it is customary to ask whose story it is. Usually, a single protagonist is identified, but in Sweat, Lynn decided that the community is the protagonist. In an age where unions are collapsing in favor of unbridled capitalism and self-marketing, Lynn changes the way we perceive character. She asks us not to choose a lead to empathize with but to watch individuals as a group going through crisis together."

Sweat was created through Nottage's project residency with Arena Stage, where playwrights are commissioned through the American Voices New Play Institute to develop a specific project that the theater will produce, and is a presentation of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production through their American Revolutions: United States History Cycle, which commissions new plays sprung from moments of change in United States history.

"I'm thrilled to be bringing Sweat to Arena Stage during this important election year," adds Nottage. "The play is inspired by conversations that I had with union workers and members of the Reading community, all of whom are dealing with the devastating impact of economic stagnation on their communities."

Lynn Nottage (Playwright) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her plays have been produced widely in the U.S. and throughout the world. They include By The Way, Meet Vera Stark; Ruined; Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy and POOF! Lynn is the recipient of numerous honors including a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship, Steinberg "Mimi" Distinguished Playwright Award, Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, inaugural Horton Foote Prize, Helen Hayes Award, Lee Reynolds Award, PEN/Laura Pels Award, Lucille Lortel fellowship and visiting research fellowship at Princeton University. She is the co-founder of the production company Market Road Films.

Kate Whoriskey (Director)'s New York credits include Public Studio shows Ping Pong and Manahatta (The Public), Tales From Red Vienna and Ruined (Manhattan Theatre Club, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel Award nominations), The Miracle Worker (Broadway's Circle in the Square), How I Learned to Drive (Second Stage Theatre), The Piano Teacher (Vineyard Theatre), Oroonoko (Theatre for a New Audience), the world premieres of Fabulation and Inked Baby (Playwrights Horizons) and Massacre (Labyrinth Theater Company). International credits include Magdalena at Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and Teatro Municipal de Sao Paulo. Regional credits include Goodman Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, American Repertory Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Huntington Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, Center Stage, Sundance Theatre Lab and New York Stage and Film, among others.

Cast Biographies (in alphabetical order)
Johanna Day (Tracey) won a Helen Hayes Award for her starring role in Arena Stage's The Rainmaker. Additional Arena credits include Quality of Life and Good People. She was a Drama Desk Award nominee for Second Stage Theatre's Peter and Jerry, Tony Award nominee for Proof at the Walter Kerr Theatre and won an Obie Award for Appropriate at Signature Theatre. On Broadway, Johanna played Mrs. Kirby in the 2014 revival of You Can't Take It With You, opposite James Earl Jones and Elizabeth Ashley, and Barbara Fordham in August: Osage County. She appeared in the world premieres of Westport Country Playhouse's Oblivion and Yale Repertory Theatre's The Realistic Joneses. Prior to joining Sweat, she created the role of Zippy in Choice. Johanna currently has recurring roles on CBS' Madam Secretary and Showtime's The Knick.

Kevin Kenerly (Brucie) has spent 19 seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival where his credits include The Great Society, All the Way, Two Trains Running, The Liquid Plain, Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, The African Company Presents Richard III, Henry IV, Part 1, Throne of Blood, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Fences, Gem of the Ocean, Tartuffe, The Importance of Being Earnest, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Gibraltar, Topdog/Underdog, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Playboy of the West Indies, As You Like It, Life Is a Dream, Stop Kiss, Seven Guitars, Death and the King's Horseman, Les Blancs, Pride and Prejudice, The Night of the Iguana, The Taming of the Shrew and Henry IV, Part 2. Additional credits with Studio Theatre, Hilberry Theatre and Attic Theatre (Detroit). Kevin received his B.A. from Olivet College.

Reza Salazar (Oscar) makes his Arena Stage debut. Off-Broadway he was seen in My Mañana Comes (Playwrights Realm), directed by Chay Yew and nominated for both Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play. Additional theater credits include Khan in the workshop of The Petrol Station by Sulayman Al-Bassam; In The Cypher (Nuyorican Poets Cafe); Mariela en el Desierto and Por Gusto (Repertorio Español); and Marco (The Invisible Dog Art Center). As a playwright, he debuted his first play Incognito at Thespis Theater Festival. His TV credits include Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Daredevil (Netflix), The Blacklist, Believe, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Louie and Nuestro Barrio. Film credits include The Imperialists Are Still Alive!, See Girl Run and The Inquisition of Camilo Sanz.

Kimberly Scott (Cynthia) last appeared at Arena Stage as Molly in Joe Turner's Come and Gone. In the role on Broadway, she was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards. Her most recent theater credits include Head of Passes (Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and Familiar (Yale Repertory Theatre). She spent six seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) playing roles in Henry IV Part 2, Ruined, As You Like It, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler and The Pirates of Penzance. As part of OSF's American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle, she created the roles of Dembi in The Liquid Plain, Amira in Party People, Viola Pettus in American Night and Cynthia in Sweat. Kimberly's film credits include Love and Other Drugs, World Trade Center, The Abyss and many TV credits. Twitter: @kimaileen.

Stephen Michael Spencer (Jason) makes his Arena Stage and D.C. debut. Regional credits include Sweat (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Heart of Robin Hood (Mirvish Productions); Yentl, A Carol for Cleveland and Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (Cleveland Play House); Go West, Clybourne Park, The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It (Chautauqua Theater Company); Tartuffe (Triad Stage); The Tempest (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival); Go, Dog. Go! (North Carolina Theatre for Young People); and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, The Misanthrope and Twelfth Night (Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House). Stephen holds a B.F.A. in acting from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and an M.F.A. in acting from Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House. Instagram: @stephenMspencer. stephenmichaelspencer.com

Tramell Tillman (Chris) is a native of the D.C.-metro area and this show marks his debut at Arena Stage. Tillman received his M.F.A. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2014. Notable credits include Red Bull Theater's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (Off-Broadway); New Stage Theatre's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Twelfth Night and A Soldiers Play; Chautauqua Theater Company's The Tempest and A Raisin in the Sun; and Clarence Brown Theatre's The Whipping Man, Spamalot and A Christmas Carol. Tramell is grateful for the opportunity to tell such a riveting, relevant story in American history. He gives credit to God and thanks his family, friends and supporters for their unwavering love and encouragement. To whom much is given, much is required. Enjoy the journey. tramelltillman.com

Jack Willis (Stan) returns to Arena Stage after appearing in Mother Courage and Her Children, Book of Days, Of Mice and Men and Agamemnon and His Daughters. Broadway credits include Julius Caesar, The Crucible, Art and The Old Neighborhood. Off-Broadway credits include The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, World of Mirth, The Iphigenia Cycle and Valhalla. He has appeared in more than 200 productions worldwide and been a company member at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (for the past five years), American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theater, Trinity Repertory Company and Dallas Theater Center. Film and TV credits include Toy Story 3, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Cradle Will Rock, The Out-of-Towners, Love Hurts, I Come in Peace, Problem Child, Law & Order, Ed and Dallas. Jack was awarded a Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship through the Ten Chimneys Foundation.

Tyrone Wilson (Evan) appeared on Broadway in Lettice and Lovage. For the last 22 years, he has been a company member at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has performed in nearly 50 productions. His favorite credits include the Friar in Much Ado About Nothing, Abernathy in All the Way and The Great Society, Vincentio in The Taming of the Shrew, Elbow in Measure for Measure, Christian in Ruined, Joe Stoddard in Our Town, Sebastian in The Tempest, Carl in Bus Stop, Morocco in The Merchant of Venice, Menelaus in Troilus and Cressida, Godfrey in Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Abioseh in Les Blancs, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and Caliban in The Tempest. Tyrone holds an M.F.A. (Yale School of Drama) and B.A. (Middlebury College). Twitter: @ashlandbardman, Instagram: @tyronewilsonoregon, Facebook: Tyrone K Wilson.

The creative team for Sweat includes Set Designer John Lee Beatty, Costume Designer Jennifer Moeller, Lighting Designer Peter Kaczorowski, Sound Designers Michael Bodeen and Robert Milburn, Projection Designer Jeff Sugg, Fight Director U. Jonathan Toppo, Assistant Directors Molly Houlihan and Rebecca Wear, Stage Manager Kurt Hall and Assistant Stage Manager Jana Llynn.

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