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Portable Sweat! Our menu of
Shows for Sale

The Sweat Girls can come to your theatre or event! We do the shvitsing so you don't have to.

The shows and writing workshops available for booking are listed below.

For a detailed description of any show, just click its title (or continue reading down the page to see them all).

  • The Sweat Girls Are ... Coiffed & Dangerous
    ... hunted down by life's challenges. But when life seizes the Sweat Girls, they seize back!
  • Sweat Girls: the Life of the Party!
    This 60-minute dish of a show provides the saucy extras to go with your mini egg rolls! Painful, honest, fun.
  • Cirque du Sweat
    Under the big top, the Sweats put an inventive spin on the transitions everyone faces in the "middle years." Sparkle and splendor meet head on with sweat.
  • The MotherLode
    Sweat Girls and their moms on stage. Anyone who's ever had a mother, been a mother, or simply witnessed a mother can appreciate this gold mine. Heartfelt but not precious.
  • Customized Sweat
    Sweat material chosen to meet the theme of your event. Health, bad hair days, finances, kids ... you name it.
  • The Sweat Lodge
    Our writing workshop. Equal doses of inspiration, laughter, and sweat.

The Sweat Girls Are ... Coiffed & Dangerous

Lampshades on heads

... hunted down by life's challenges. But when life seizes the Sweat Girls, they seize back. In this sly and witty show the girls chase after the ethereal ... and go at it like a pack of she-wolves. They sniff it out in a moment of road rage, while caught in a big lie, at the acupuncturist's clinic, in inherited talents, and at the bottom of a river in Thailand.

The Sweat Girls Are ... Coiffed & Dangerous is available for bookings and is written and performed by Cindy Hanson, Dorothy Milne, Clare Nolan, Martie Sanders, and Pamela Webster.


Sweat Girls: The Life of the Party!

Lampshades on heads

You don't need to don a sparkly tiara and put on airs when a lampshade and a juicy self-effacing story can really grab the focus at a soiree!

Move over Miss Manners, this straightforward hour-long Sweat gem promises an evening of truth and hilarity as the gals cover such topics as playground bullies, karmic retribution, recently departed parents, and the art of saying "no."

Sweat Girls: The Life of the Party! is available for bookings and is written and performed by Dorothy Milne, Clare Nolan, Martie Sanders, and Pamela Webster.

Critical comments on Sweat Girls: The Life of the Party!:

"I laughed so hard I went into labor."
A female audience member who saw the show at Live Bait Theater's Fillet of Solo Festival


Cirque du Sweat

Cirque action shots

This show features four energetic forty-something comediennes who share their distinctive takes on the chaos of life's inevitable transitions.

The topsy-turvy world of Cirque du Sweat offers up an inventive spin on the traditional solo monologist show. A live one-woman band, dance numbers, sideshow freak characters, and a femme fatale puppet of Amazonian proportions all add to the heart and hilarity under the big (and sweat-stained) top.

Cirque du Sweat is available for bookings and is written and performed by Cindy Hanson, Clare Nolan, Martie Sanders, and Pamela Webster.

Adding their talents to this collaboration are clarinetist and musical director Teri Foster; choreographer Ann Boyd (Running with Scissors Artistic Director); and offering her editorial eye, Dorothy Milne (Lifeline Theatre Artistic Director and fellow Sweat Girl).

Kristi Petitpren's whimsical freak posters, Martie Sanders' 15-ft. female effigy, and Charlie Jolls' elegant lights texturize an evening that is full of sparkle, splendor and sweat.


Circus poster

Critical comments on
Cirque du Sweat:

"... unique commentaries on women and the world, Cirque du Sweat. As they become older, the Sweat Girls' work becomes wiser, yet always retains its wry twist."
— Jonathan Abarbanel, Windy City Times

"... passionate, witty work that confronts the conundrums of transformation ... a humorous, poignant collection of monologues and scenes dealing with body image, baby fever, and the erosion of youthful ideals in the face of middle-aged realities. "
— Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader (Critic's Choice)


The MotherLode

MotherLode group shot

In 1996 the Sweat Girls met documentary filmmaker Joe Winston when both were producing shows at the Organic Theater in Chicago. Post-show conversations led to the idea of collaborating on a project. The Sweat Girls spent a year traveling with Joe and his camera, interviewing each other's moms. Ever patient, gracious and fascinating, the moms spoke candidly to the camera and The MotherLode was born.

The MotherLode explores the dynamic between mother and child and the issues that charge this unique relationship. Filmed conversations with each "Sweat Mom" are interwoven with live performance and, in typical Sweat Girl fashion, poignancy and humor share room with the truth.

The MotherLode is available for bookings and is written and performed by Jane Blass, Cindy Hanson, Dorothy Milne, Clare Nolan, Martie Sanders, Jenifer Tyler, and Pamela Webster. Also featured in in this collaboration is the superb work of award-winning documentary filmmaker Joe Winston. (VHS copies of The MotherLode are available — see our merchandise page.)

Critical comments on The MotherLode:

"Hilarious, touching and maddening ... like every mother-daughter relationship in the world!"
— Kathy and Judy Show, WGN Radio

"Avoiding cheap sentiment and forced emotions each Sweat Girl presents a 15-minute profile of her mother accompanied by Winston's elegant video work ... carefully chosen details combine to form compelling, emotionally nuanced portraits ... intelligent performers will earn your every bemused smile."
— Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader (Critic's Choice)

"Now why can't you do something like this about me?!"
A mother to her grown son after seeing this show


Customized Sweat

hairdryers

It's the Sweat Girls show that's made to order!

This simple stand-and-tell show is sure to meet your needs. Anywhere from three to five Sweat Girls will perform on any given topic — health, bad hair days, finances, kids ... just give us a theme and we'll run with it!

This piece also includes our improvised writing set, in which an audience member chooses a phrase and the gals write and perform instantaneously on that suggestion.


Sweat Lodge (Workshop)

Out in the snow

Ever dreamed of telling your story on stage?

Your sisters in Sweat have been doing this for 13 years and can help you get to the heart of your story through writing. Learn to write, edit and break down the fourth wall between you and your viewers.

Perfect for a home salon setting or even a classroom.

This workshop includes three to four Sweat Girls and is only available in tandem with a Sweat Girl show.

***

Credits: Life of the Party lampshade photo and "Hairdryer Ladies" artwork by Kevin Davis. Cirque du Sweat artwork by Kristi Petitpren, postcard design by Scott Wills. MotherLode poster design by Jane Blass. Black and white group photos by Suzanne Plunkett, except for snow scene photo by Clare Nolan.


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