Interviews

Miriam Shor Discovers a Character Who's Startlingly Close to Home in Sweat

Shor returns to the stage in Lynn Nottage’s new work exploring the human stories behind election-cycle rhetoric.

It's been a while since Miriam Shor, a one-time downtown darling known for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, last took on a full-scale theatrical project. Apart from a very short stint appearing with Sutton Foster in the Encores! five-performance run of The Wild Party last summer, she's been consumed for the last several years with a successful television career. In addition to her current gig as one of the stars of TV Land's Younger (led by Foster), Shor has recently enjoyed featured roles in The Good Wife and GCB. But anticipating a fall break from Younger, she decided it was time to sink her teeth into something onstage.

"Younger is such a great show…but when I was done [with filming]," Shor said, "I thought, 'You know what, I really would like to play a character who's very different from [Diana Trout].'"

At just the right time, the Public Theater was preparing to stage the New York debut of Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's new play Sweat, which follows a group of friends who have spent their adult lives together on the assembly line of a Reading, Pennsylvania factory. One member of that cohort, Jessie, is a fortysomething woman whose been working on the factory floor since she was 18.

"She just went through a divorce, so life isn't great and she drinks too much because of it. But she's hanging in there. She's got good friends," said Shor of the role, "This character came along and I was like, 'Yes, exactly.'"

"It's very much an ensemble piece," she continued, "and my part is not big, but I wanted to be a part of this project really badly…It's really intense. It's really upsetting. And it's really important."

Miriam Shor, one of the stars of TV Land's Younger, can now be seen in Sweat at The Public Theater.
Miriam Shor, one of the stars of TV Land's Younger, can now be seen in Sweat at the Public Theater.
(© Tricia Baron)

What can you tell me about this play?

It takes place in 2000 and 2008…It's right when NAFTA started, when companies were moving to other countries and jobs started really going away in 2000. And then 2008, I think we all know what happened then.

[After 2008] Lynn Nottage went to Reading, Pennsylvania over the course of five years and did a series of interviews. At the time she was looking into it, Reading was the poorest city in the state. It had been a sort of bastion of industry, with lots of factories and good jobs. When those factories left, mostly because of NAFTA, and moved to Mexico and other places, it just destroyed the city. Much of the population left and what was left was a pretty difficult, sad situation. And she was curious about that and interested in those stories. So she interviewed people and wrote this play about these people who are living in this town and their relationships with each other and the breakdown of those relationships because of what happened.

Johanna Day, Michelle Wilson, Miriam Shor, and Carlo Albán share a scene in Sweat.
Johanna Day, Michelle Wilson, Miriam Shor, and Carlo Albán share a scene in Sweat.
(© Joan Marcus)

What's it like playing Jessie?

She has this really beautiful monologue about when she was eighteen and had this idea she was going to go to India with a boyfriend and see the world. And it just didn't happen. She worked and stayed where she was. And I remember thinking when I read it like, "Well, that was totally me…I'm from Detroit…except I did go. I did make my way to another country and see the world. And I got out." We're so similar and our circumstances made it so that our lives really diverged. But I get her. I knew exactly what was in her heart at that moment.

And when she loses her job it's literally like the bottom of her world is taken away and she freefalls. It just really struck me. I felt like, "Oh shit, that could be me." I could see myself in her and her in me and that's a testament to the beautiful writing of Lynn Nottage.

What has the audience reaction been to the show thus far?

It's interesting. With what's going on in our country, it's actually astonishing to be doing this play right now, the very different reactions the audiences have been having. Like, there's times when there's audible reactions to things and you just realize how many people are close to going through this or going through this or know someone going through it.

Miriam Shor takes notes from playwright Lynn Nottage during rehearsal for Sweat.
Miriam Shor takes notes from playwright Lynn Nottage during rehearsal for Sweat.
(© Joan Marcus)

Why were you so interested in being a part of Sweat?

I feel like the story should be told because it's a story that's happening everywhere. And Lynn makes it so personal that I feel and I hope that the audience kind of can't escape recognizing all the different points of view that are involved in those stories — and caring about it, because it really should be cared about. It should be talked about. It should be listened to.

The idea that you won't have a job is a real fear that people go through, so when people talk about jobs and say, "I'm gonna create jobs!" or, "There's gonna be a loss of jobs," those are just words. But the reality of someone actually losing their job, I mean it's their entire life for most people in this country. So being motivated by that fear is understandable. It can color every decision you make and every thought you have, so it's deep and heavy. But it's a joy to be a part of something where you're starting a conversation.

What do you hope audiences will take away?

I'm interested in who is able to hear the story and who might not be able to hear the story, you know? Because, look, on any given night there's certain stories you feel like listening to and some that you don't. That's just being a theatergoer. But I'm interested in the barriers that we have to hearing this story. I think we all have them, because it's a tough story to listen to. But it's really happening, so I'm proud to be a very small cog in this really intricate and beautiful and devastating machine.

James Colby, Carlo Albán, Miriam Shor, and Michelle Wilson in Sweat, written by Lynn Nottage and directed by Kate Whoriskey.
James Colby, Carlo Albán, Miriam Shor, and Michelle Wilson in Sweat, written by Lynn Nottage and directed by Kate Whoriskey.
(© Joan Marcus)

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Sweat

Closed: December 4, 2016