ArtsWest Announces MILK LIKE SUGAR

ArtsWest has just announced MILK LIKE SUGAR, Kirsten Greenidge's award-winning play about about young women and the intersection of class, race and opportunity. MILK LIKE SUGAR opens at the ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery on March 2, performing Thursday through Sunday until March 25.

MILK LIKE SUGAR makes the first collaboration between ArtsWest and rising star Seattle director Malika Oyetimein, a featured artist on CityArts 2016 Future List and director of, among other recent works, INTIMAN's production of BOOTYCANDY. Inspired by the events of the 2008 Glouchester "pregnancy pact", MILK LIKE SUGAR tells the story of Annie, a young girl determined to stick by her friends - and her promise - but wary of what lies ahead. Annie considers the advice of Malik, who promises a bright future, and Keera, whose evangelical leanings inspire Annie in a way her young parents have not been able to. Annie's story in MILK LIKE SUGAR is told with a fresh combination of wit, poetry and hope.

"Kirsten Greenidge writes their points of view in a way that is so heart-breakingly beautiful," said director Malika Oyetimein of the MILK LIKE SUGAR playwright, adding, "I'm hard pressed to find another story that centers on three young girls of color in an inner city." This essential absence of stories about young women of color - and the obstacles they face to determine their own future - is one of the reasons why the story of MILK LIKE SUGAR is so important to tell, and why this ArtsWest production is such an important theater event for the Seattle community.

Creative Team

Directed by Malika Oyetimein

Stage Manager - Melanie LeDuc

Lighting Designer - Alyssa Millione

Costume Designer - Kelsey Rogers

Scenic Designer - Jenny Littlefield

Sound Designer - GOODSTEPH

Props Master - Emma Ambacher

Cast

Allyson Lee Brown - Annie

Jay O'Leary - Talisha

Nastacia Guimont - Margie

Andre G. Brown - Antwoine

Marlette Buchannan - Myrna

Dimitri Woods - Malik

Lindsay Zae Summers - Keera

About ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery

ArtsWest is a vibrant center for both performing and visual arts located in the West Seattle Junction. This 149-seat theatre provides a unique setting for audiences and artists as stories of human emotion unfold in an intimate space. Winner of the American Theatre Wing's 2012 National Theatre Company Award, ArtsWest has produced such diverse work as Evil Dead: The Musical, Little Women, this fall's critically acclaimed production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and the smash hit Peter and the Starcatcher. ArtsWest produces artistic events that provoke conversation, incite the imagination and use live theater as a powerful agent of change. www.artswest.org