“Sweat” couldn’t have come at a better or, perhaps, worse time.

The play, which won the 2017 Pulizer Prize for Drama on April 10 and received a Tony nomination on Tuesday for Best Play (as well as two best actress nominations), was written by author Lynn Nottage, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for “Ruined,” a story about women living in civil war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo. She has chosen a different kind of struggle this time and one on American soil. “Sweat” follows a group of women friends who have been working at the same factory in Reading, Pa. since high school, and who all hang out at the same bar. Nothing can break their bonds, or so they think.

“Sweat,” directed by Kate Whoriskey, chronicles a dramatic couple of years in the life of these rural, blue collar workers, many of whom have worked in the local factory for generations. These are the people referred to by President Trump as the “forgotten people.” Their children expect jobs there, too. When Cynthia (Michelle Wilson), an African-American, is promoted, this once tight group is torn apart by mistrust, jealousy and accusations of betrayal.

Podcast: Pulitzer Prize Winner Lynn Nottage Talks Broadway’s ‘Sweat’

The play, opened at Studio 54 in New York on March 26 after a run at the off-Broadway Public Theatre last year. Nottage, who traveled back and forth to Reading from her home in New York over a number of years, spoke to MarketWatch about the timing of the play, why she chose Reading, Pa. as the setting for it, and the real-life economic shifts in American life that inspired her latest work.

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“ ‘One of the hardest jobs anyone can have is the job of being poor. To survive from day to day is an epic struggle to find a way to feed yourself, clothe yourself, put a roof over your head. It is the most Herculean path when you have nothing.’ ” — Lynn Nottage, author of ‘Sweat.’

MarketWatch: Given the 2016 election and how the result was driven by many white, blue-collar Americans, this play arrives on Broadway at a particularly prescient moment in time, even though it starts in 2000.

Nottage: There was a seismic shift then. A lot of jobs left. What we are feeling now is what began in the late 1990s and 2000s. At the end of the show a man came up and said thank you for humanizing some of these stories, and he wanted to hold my hand for five minutes.

MarketWatch: How did that make you feel?

Nottage: It was an emotional moment, but it made me feel good that the story is resonating today in ways that I hadn’t even anticipated when I wrote it.

MarketWatch: Why Reading?

Nottage: It was an industrial powerhouse of textile and steel and agriculture and candy factories, and for many years it thrived and then it hit hard times. They embraced the notion of being middle class and how they were faring and the industrial base was removed.

Lynn Nottage, author of ‘Sweat.’ Susan Johann

MarketWatch: You’ve been back to Reading and even had a showing of “Sweat” there. How did they react to this play?

Nottage: It’s really, really hard for them. Things have gotten harder in the last month. They don’t feel as optimistic as they felt three or four weeks ago. The vast majority of the people I spoke to leaned very union, and were either supporters of Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. If Bernie had won the primary, they probably would have leaned toward Bernie, at least in this city.

Bernie was very in touch with what was happening on the ground. Trump is probably less in touch, but gave the illusion of being in touch. Bernie held rallies in Reading. People respond to candidates that come to them and have their eyes open to what’s happening and that’s why he’s still popular in that section of the country.

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MarketWatch: People who work in factories are more prone to injury and likely to take pain medication. You address the epidemic of prescription medication addiction among working class Americans in the play.

Nottage: Reading is one of the heroin capitals of the country. When people can no longer afford pain killers they go to cheaper solutions. People who are working physically have more kinds of pain. I do believe that pharmaceutical companies recognize it. You can almost track new markets and addiction. This is one reason heroin moved from being an urban phenomenon to a rural phenomenon. [Editor’s note: The American Pharmacists Association and American Medical Association did not immediately respond to request for comment.]

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MarketWatch: I’m conscious that New Yorkers are probably seeing how a community was devastated by globalization up close for the first time in a play that’s set in 2000. And how one character in your play says she doesn’t read newspapers, suggesting perhaps she doesn’t trust the news media. These two Americas seem a world apart.

Nottage: People aren’t as aware of international news as people are in urban centers where there is much more multiculturalism. I have two mottos: Replace judgment with curiosity and sustain the complexity. Why are these people feeling pain? Why are they so angry? It works both ways. We often retreat into our individual silos without asking the complicated questions. We have to take better care of each other. And in order to thrive we have to acknowledge each other. If we don’t participate in that social contract our nation is going to fail.

MarketWatch: There’s a character, Oscar (Carlo Alban), who works in the local bar who breaks the picket line. He had long wanted to work at the factory, but was effectively told by Tracey (Johanna Day, who received a Tony nomination for best actress in a featured role in a play) that the jobs were for people who grew up in Reading. And the power dynamic shifts when Tracey’s African-American friend Cynthia (Michelle Wilson, who also received a Tony nomination for actress) is promoted to management.

“ ‘I have two mottos: Replace judgment with curiosity and sustain the complexity. Why are these people feeling pain? Why are they so angry? It works both ways. We often retreat into our individual silos without asking the complicated questions.’ ” — Lynn Nottage, author of ‘Sweat.’

Nottage: There’s a certain population of the white working class that become threatened by certain aspirational people of color. Oscar is on the stage almost the entire play but invisible. The working class Latino is part of the bedrock of this culture that goes under-acknowledged. There’s a great deal of resentment directed at him. I think it’s misplaced anger.

Some of that was played out when we had an African American president who by and large did a very decent job, and represented himself beautifully and left the White House scandal free. A person of color finally has an opportunity to move upstairs, and step across an invisible line that you are not supposed to cross.

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MarketWatch: Was that your experience in Reading?

Nottage: By and large, all my encounters in Reading were very good. Even people I found myself in opposition with politically and intellectually, there was a still a willingness to engage with me and share their stories. They just want to go on record regardless of who is asking.

MarketWatch: Michelle’s son has aspirations of going to college and getting away, and he comes so close.

Nottage: There are people who want to leave, but don’t have the financial means to leave. Their poverty becomes a prison. They can’t find work, but can’t get enough money to move to a city where they can. That’s one of the true tragedies. Everyone I spoke to while I was in Reading, without exception, wanted to be working.

Being poor is one of the hardest jobs in the world anyone can have. To survive from day to day is an epic struggle to find a way to feed yourself, clothe yourself, put a roof over your head. It is the most Herculean path when you have nothing. They’re seen by some people as lazy. But it’s the opposite. It’s an epic struggle to survive.

(This interview was edited for style and space.)