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humanity theatre project presents lynn nottage's sweat
"THE FIRST THEATRICAL LANDMARK OF THE TRUMP ERA: Lynn Nottage’s play is a tough yet empathetic portrait of the America that came undone."
— Michael Schulman, The New Yorker
Who: The Humanity Theatre Project
What: Sweat by Lynn Nottage*
When: Friday, March 8 – Saturday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Darkhorse Theater (4610 Charlotte Avenue)
Tickets: Tickets for this production will be available in February 2019.
*A discussion featuring panelists from the community will follow each performance.
In her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Sweat, Lynn Nottage gives a voice to those who often feel they have none, such as best friends Tracey and Cynthia, saloon-loving adults who work together on a steel manufacturing line. In a tight-knit community like this one, however, it takes but one fracture in its core for the breaking point of friendship to be seismically tested. Inspired by field research and first-person testimonials collected in Reading, PA, Lynn Nottage’s unflinching slice-of-life drama captures the pressure cooker of trying times—where a lethal combination of layoffs, lockout, and picket lines sends the Rust Belt way of life into crisis. Sweat is a tough, yet empathetic, portrait of the America that came undone."
*A discussion will follow each performance.
humanity theatre project presents it can't happen here
What would happen is the United States elected the wrong president in 1936 and the country descended into fascism? The Humanity Theatre Project will explore that very question as it launches its first season with a staged reading of It Can’t Happen Here (Part 1) adapted by Tony Taccone and Bennett S. Cohen from the novel by Sinclair Lewis.
Who: The Humanity Theatre Project
What: It Can’t Happen Here (Part 1)*
When: Thursday, November 1 – Saturday, November 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Darkhorse Theater (4610 Charlotte Avenue)
Tickets: Suggested donations of $10 accepted at the door. Reservations are recommended and are available here.
*A discussion featuring panelists from the community will follow each performance.
Based on the 1930s dystopian of the same name, It Can’t Happen Here presents a cautionary, semi-satirical look at the fragility of democracy. Adapted for the stage by Berkeley Rep in 2016, this new version follows the ascent of Senator Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip (loosely based on Huey P. Long), a demagogue who easily wins the 1936 presidential election by promising to return the country to greatness. The rise of Windrip is watched disapprovingly by Doremus Jessup, the editor of the Fort Beulah Daily Informer. As Windrip comes down on the press, Jessup winds up in the crosshairs while others reassure themselves that fascism cannot “happen here.” Sinclair Lewis’ eerily prescient 1935 novel gets a fresh update in this adaptation that examines what brings a citizenry to the point of sacrificing its own freedom.