TDPS Students and Alumni in Milk Like Sugar at Mosaic Theater

The work of five TDPS current students and alumni will be in Mosaic Theater’s Milk Like Sugar (Kirsten Greenidge), opening next Wednesday, November 2 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. ​

The work of five TDPS current students and alumni will be in Mosaic Theater’s Milk Like Sugar (Kirsten Greenidge), opening next Wednesday, November 2 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The cast will feature TDPS student Tyasia Velines and alum Vaughn Midder (BA Theatre ‘14); PhD candidate Khalid Yaya Long is the production’s dramaturg; and costume designer Marci Rodgers (MFA Design ‘16) is assisted by TDPS student Claudia Brownlee on the costume design. The play was written by Kirsten Greenidge, who wrote last season’s Baltimore for the Big Ten New Play Initiative and presented by TDPS last spring. The play is directed by Jennifer Nelson, who has recently worked with TDPS, having directed last season’s Intimate Apparel.

Milk Like Sugar tells the story of sixteen year-old Annie. When one of her friends announces she's pregnant, Annie is drawn into a life-altering ‘pact’ that thrusts her into the tough choices of adulthood. The play won the 2012 Obie Award for Playwriting and the 2011 San Diego Critics Circle Craig Noel Award for Outstanding New Play.

Khalid Long recalls the evening of the first rehearsal as a kind of reunion gathering for the “UMD family” working on the show. “When we were there that first night … Tyasia walks in … then Vaughn Midder walks in … and then I noticed Marci Rodgers was the costume designer … and then Claudia is her assistant … and I said to myself, there are five of us who are UMD family on this show! This is a big deal!”

The strong representation of TDPS students and alumni working on the production provides an especially welcoming environment for current students early in their careers. “It’s wonderful to go into a new project having people there you know,” said Claudia Brownlee, a senior. “Having that definitely makes the transition comfortable moving into a professional production.”

Getting hired for professional production work during the course of your education and training can be both rewarding and challenging.

Brownlee has appreciated getting to work with seasoned professionals, developing a professional frame of mind, and key insight into the business behind design. “This project has taught me a lot of little things that I believe could only be picked up through work experience,” she said.

For Long, who is finishing up his dissertation, professional work is both difficult to juggle with academic work and essential to his scholarship. “To be able to practice theatre … it keeps me going. It’s the way I realize the work is valued … it’s where I can put my work into practice,” he said. “If I’m unable to practice, then I am unable to do critical scholarship.”

Long was invited to work on the production by director Jennifer Nelson and Ari Roth, Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater, due in part to his expertise in black female playwrights and black culture. His scholarship in this area has come in handy, as he has guided the production with care through its complicated subject matter.

“It’s a sticky play,” he asserts.

“All theatre, if it’s good, it’s sticky,” he quickly clarifies. “[Milk Like Sugar] has the potential to challenge and alter minds and shift people’s perceptions.”

Even with the tricky subject, Long said of the process, “I’m having a ball!”

Make sure to support the TDPS family and check out Milk Like Sugar, running at Mosaic Theater for the month of November: http://www.mosaictheater.org/milk. 

By Jonelle Walker