La Jolla Playhouse opened the world premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s “Milk Like Sugar” Sept. 7 at the Sheilah and Hughes Potiker Theatre. The work was commissioned by the Playhouse and Aspen’s Theater Masters (Julia Hansen, artistic director). Greenidge, a member of New Dramatists and Rhombus, has developed work at Sundance, Playwrights Horizons and the Humana Festival of New American plays, among others, and received the Sundance Time Warner award for “Bossa Nova.” Rebecca Taichman, who most recently staged “Sleeping Beauty Wakes” at the Playhouse, staged “Milk Like Sugar.” The play takes its name from the common commodity powdered milk, a staple handed out to families in need of assistance. The play is set at an urban high school in an underprivileged community and concerns three 16-year-old African-American girls who make a pregnancy pact, thinking motherhood will bring them the attention they crave. When the play opens, the virginal Annie (Angela Lewis) celebrates her birthday by demanding a red ladybug tattoo from Antwoine (LeRoy McClain. She must get pregnant to fulfill the pact and turns to Malik (J. Mallory-McCree) to father her child. He is reluctant, so Annie strikes out. He pleads that Annie realize her educational potential and plan her life to fulfill it. Annie’s friends — the already-pregnant Margie (Nikiya Mathis) and the freewheeling Talisha (Cherise Boothe) — offer no counsel. The ultra-religious Keera (Adrienne C. Moore) is no help at all, and neither is Annie’s self-centered, self-deluded mother (Tonya Pinkins). The wise counsel that Annie needs either falls on deaf ears — because of her low self-esteem — or fails to materialize. Symbolically, Malik opens Annie’s eyes and soul at the 11th hour, but sadly it is too late, giving Greenidge’s insightful and ruthlessly real play an ending in which we mourn what might have been. Scene (Mimi Liens), lighting (Justin Townsend), sound (Andre Pluess) and costumes designs (Toni-Leslie James) are outstanding and the company of actors could not be better, whose ensemble is remarkable indeed. People unaccustomed to inner-city dialect may be challenged at first, but as with Shakespeare, one’s understanding improves. The play is worth the effort. Milk Like Sugar plays at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 7 p.m. Sundays; and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 25 at the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, www.lajollaplayhouse.org or (858) 550-1010.
