Sweat

Act 1

Reading Check

1. White supremacy tattoos (Act 1, Scene 1)

2. Burn down her house (Act 1, Scene 2)

3. A promotion (Act 1, Scene 2)

4. A teacher (Act 1, Scene 3)

5. The factory (Act 1, Scene 4)

6. Cynthia is Black. (Act 1, Scene 5)

7. Not for him (Act 1, Scene 5)

8. Jessie (Act 1, Scene 6)

9. The machines were gone. (Act 1, Scene 7)

10. A list of names (Act 1, Scene 7)

Short Answer

1. They approached each other and stood close for a moment, and then they started hugging. (Act 1, Scene 1)

2. Cynthia was arrested for disorderly conduct while trying to kick her husband, who was high, out of the house. (Act 1, Scene 2)

3. Jason is disappointed and feels left out, and he gives Chris a hard time about it. (Act 1, Scene 3)

4. Brucie tells Stan that they have been locked out of the factory, and his employers have offered the workers their jobs if they’ll accept massive cuts in pay and benefits. (Act 1, Scene 4)

5. Cynthia tells Brucie that he needs to get clean from drugs, or he can’t be around her. (Act 1, Scene 4)

6. The flyer, which he saw at the Latino Center, is advertising work at the factory to replace union workers like Tracey for a much lower wage. (Act 1, Scene 5)

7. Tracey tells Oscar that her grandfather was a woodworker, a legitimate craftsman who could build anything, and he used to show Tracey the detail work he’d carved all over town. But most of it has been covered up, which makes her sad. (Act 1, Scene 5)

8. Tracey is upset about Cynthia’s promotion and doesn’t like taking orders from her, plus she’s been spreading the rumor that Cynthia was only promoted because she’s Black. (Act 1, Scene 6)

9. Tracey asks Cynthia if the plant is going to start laying people off, and Cynthia promises that if she does hear anything, she’ll warn them. (Act 1, Scene 6)

10. Brucie advises them to take whatever they offer them, because once the temporary workers start to come in, they’ll never get their jobs back. (Act 1, Scene 7)

Act 2

Reading Check

1. Five dollars (Act 2, Scene 1)

2. Jason (Act 2, Scene 1)

3. Mexico (Act 2, Scene 2)

4. Flirting with Brucie (Act 2, Scene 3)

5. Walk out (Act 2, Scene 3)

6. At a union meeting (Act 2, Scene 4)

7. Pay up front (Act 2, Scene 5)

8. Leave Reading (Act 2, Scene 6)

9. Shame (Act 2, Scene 7)

10.College kids (Act 2, Scene 8)

Short Answer

1. Jason discovers that his mother is now strung out on drugs, which Tracey claims are for back pain. (Act 2, Scene 1)

2. They blame her for not telling them that the machines were being taken away, although Cynthia insists that she didn’t know. (Act 2, Scene 2)

3. According to Cynthia, the factory will let them come back to work with a 60% pay cut and cuts to their benefits. (Act 2, Scene 2)

4. They want to use her as a scapegoat to take the blame from the workers while they hide in their offices. (Act 2, Scene 3)

5. Tracey remembers Cynthia attacking a woman who flirted with Brucie in Atlantic City, and she wants Cynthia to bring back that fighting spirit against the factory. (Act 2, Scene 3)

6. Brucie was protesting at the picket line, it started to rain, and he just stood there feeling hopeless instead of getting out of the rain. (Act 2, Scene 4)

7. Oscar has crossed the picket line and gotten a job at the factory. (Act 2, Scene 5)

8. Stan tries to stop the fight, and Jason accidentally hits him in the head with a baseball bat. (Act 2, Scene 6)

9. Jason is living in a tent in the woods after being kicked out of the shelter for fighting. (Act 2, Scene 7)

10. Oscar is running the bar and taking care of Stan, who was left severely disabled from the injury he sustained in the fight in Scene 6. (Act 2, Scene 8)