Ireon Roach and Sheharrell Rhodes/Photo: Dean La Prairie
RECOMMENDED
Touching on a number of perennially sensitive subjects (welfare, incarceration, urban education) and drawing links between racism, misogyny and consumerism, Kirsten Greenidge’s “Milk Like Sugar” has only gained potency since its premiere in 2011. The latest production from Senn High School’s theater collective The Yard (in conjunction with Raven Theatre) arrives at a moment where the rift between black culture and the rest of America has never been more evident. While ostensibly about teen motherhood, the play’s true subject is control, specifically of the world’s most chronically disempowered group: women.
“Milk Like Sugar” explores how behavior is affected when failure is not only the norm but the expectation. The play’s young women decide that they can positively alter their lives by having babies. This “pregnancy pact” is the first of many confounding reversals of logic and tragic instances where a crippling responsibility is mistaken for a means of achieving freedom and respect. It is the emotional equivalent of cutting off a limb and bragging about losing weight.
Respect is of the utmost importance to these proceedings. Throughout the play we are treated to countless incidents of shaming and humiliation. While criticisms vary from choosing a childish tattoo to loving Jesus, self-esteem, or the lack thereof, is always at the heart of the conflict. In an environment of institutionalized insecurity, the idea that any one person would rise (a symbolically loaded word here) above their station or even choose to walk outside the narrowly determined path of least resistance is perceived as a threat to those who’ve agreed upon these unspoken rules, seemingly as infallible as the laws of physics.
As they did in “The 4th Graders” earlier this season, directors Mechelle Moe and Joel Ewing provide a largely invisible guiding presence in here. A hip (but not trendy) set courtesy of Andrew Burden Swanson and an aesthetically flexible lighting design from Maggie Fullilove-Nugent serve to highlight the play’s stars: the kids of The Yard.
Of course, calling them “kids” is misleading. These young actors fill Greenidge’s demanding roles with fury and grace. On stage, they possess all the confidence that their respective characters lack. While the play’s title alludes to an empty substitution, these performances are nutrient-dense, nourishing the spirit of the performers and audiences alike. (Kevin Greene)
The Yard at Raven Theatre’s West Stage, 6157 North Clark, raventheatre.com and the-yard.org, $10-$15. Through January 23.
Related Stories
That's So Raven: A Review of The Gentleman Caller at Raven Theatre Language-heavy, plot-light and emotionally fraught, this world premiere from Philip Dawkins finds an ideal home at Raven Theatre.- This Is "us": A Review of columbinus at The Yard and Steppenwolf Theatre Company In collaboration with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Yard returns with their most ambitious and urgent project to date.
- Sowing and Reaping: A Review of Blood at the Root at The Yard and Jackalope Theatre RECOMMENDED Dominique Morisseau's "Blood at the Root" is the most socially complex work The Yard (in their second collaboration with Jackalope Theatre) has yet to do. And that's saying something for a company that has tackled suicide, pregnancy, death, illness, polygamy and genocide as well as religious, racial and sexual intolerance all through the lens of adolescence and young adulthood. A…
- Quoth the Raven: A Review of Poe at Theatre Above the Law This charming theatrical anthology is probably best enjoyed only by those fans most committed to its namesake.
- Praises Go Up: A Review of Choir Boy at Raven Theatre The Chicago Premiere of Oscar Winner Tarell Alvin McCraney's "Choir Boy" illuminates the internal and external conflicts of young black life.
- Unbearable Whiteness of Being: A Review of Sycamore at Raven Theatre Raven Theatre's world premiere of Sarah Sander's "Sycamore" tells you nearly everything you need to know about it in the program's title page under Time/Setting: Late September. Suburbs. Middle America. Following the minor vexations of a most atomically basic nuclear family, "Sycamore" marks yet another entry in the endless pathologizing of suburban whiteness in American theater. Playing on Raven's smaller West Stage, most…
