Content area
Full Text
MILK LIKE SUGAR. By Kirsten Greenidge. Directed by Rebecca Taichman. La Jolla Playhouse, Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, San Diego, California. 10 September 2011.
In 2008, a sharp increase in pregnancies at a Massachusetts high school caused the principal to assume that the young women had created a "pregnancy pact," a secret agreement to get pregnant and raise children together. As explained in the production's program notes, this news story inspired playwright Kirsten Greenidge to write Milk Like Sugar to "bring these girls' humanity onto the stage." With its introspective dialogue and energetic performances, the play showcased Greenidge's intent: instead of becoming another teenage melodrama, the production humanized troubled teenagers and pregnant youth. By depicting her characters as African American (the teens from the original news story were white), Greenidge complicated the reception of the play by risking a reinscription of contemporary black stereotypes about poor, urban families, welfare queens, and absent fathers. However, due to Greenidge's arresting, poetic dialogue and strong performances by the actors, Milk Like Sugar wove complex negotiations throughout the play text, debating the desire for unconditional love from a child versus the aspirations for an education and career, and, ultimately, offering a production that adds to the growing anthology of new African American playwrights whose work should be produced. Too often, scripts out of the mainstream or by playwrights of color languish in workshop after workshop, never seeing full production support. La Jolla Playhouse's production of Milk Like Sugar demonstrates the power of encounter, challenging regional-theatre audiences to confront characters and storylines often marginalized-or silenced completely-in commercial venues. In doing so, this production resists historic and systemic racist, classist, and sexist production practices endemic to US professional theatre.
The play began abruptly, loudly, and energetically, as Talisha, Annie, and Margie (played by Cherise Boothe,...