A Director’s Approach to Sweat by Lynn Nottage

In October of 2019, I directed my thesis project at the University of Iowa: a mainstage production of Sweat, by Lynn Nottage. This thesis discusses the playwright, play, my directorial analysis, the design and rehearsal process, and the performances. In my work on Sweat, I strove to emulate Nottage’s practice of “replacing judgement with curiosity,” (Schulman) by conducting rigorous research, practicing radical empathy, and taking an anti-racist feminist approach. Here, I describe the challenges I faced and the successes I shared in as the director of this tour de force of the American theatre canon.