Sweat

Act One

Scene One: It’s August, 2008, and Jason is sitting with his parole officer Evan. Jason, who is recently out of jail where he got white supremacist tattoos on his face, has just gotten into a fight and has a black eye. Jason refuses to explain what happened and Evan threatens to report Jason for being “belligerent, defiant and reluctant to observe protocol”. Jason finally reveals that he was sucker punched by a biker who accused him of looking at his girl, but claims that he wasn’t and that he did nothing wrong. There is clearly something else wrong that Jason is not revealing, and finally Evan gets him to confess that he ran into his old friend Chris.

The scene shifts and Evan is now talking to Chris, who has also just been released from jail. Chris is very neatly dressed and very antsy. Evan has a much lighter touch with Chris, asking him how he’s been doing. Chris tells him he’s been sleeping at the church and looking for work, but that it’s hard to find a job when you have