Milk Like Sugar

Annie Desmond is turning sixteen, and she and her friends plan to celebrate in a big way — tattoos may be involved. They're like many black teenagers, dreaming big but surrounded by little that offers hope of something better. Annie's mother works herself near to death to support them, but when Annie's friend Margie tells the group she's pregnant, they hatch a plan that's shortsighted at best. Kirsten Greenidge's play Milk Like Sugar has been praised for the poetry and honesty of its dialogue and its unflinching look at the future being created for black youth. The Black Rep presents Milk Like Sugar at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Washington University's Hotchner Studio Theatre inside the Edison Center (6445 Forsyth Boulevard; www.theblackrep.org). Tickets are $15 to $40.