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Goldie, Max & Milk

Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  4w, 1m

Max, a single lesbian, just gave birth and has no clue how to nurse her newborn. Can Goldie, an Orthodox Jewish lactation consultant, guide Max into motherhood? Or will conflicting family values get the better of them both?

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 1m
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • Nominee: 2011 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for Best Regional Play
    Nominee: 2011 Carbonell Award for Best New Play in Florida

Details

Summary
It’s 2009; Max is unemployed, her house is falling apart, and her ex, Lisa, is on the loose. On top of all that, she has no clue how to nurse her newborn baby. Can Goldie, an Orthodox Jewish lactation consultant, guide Max into motherhood? Or will conflicting family values get the better of them both? Goldie, Max & Milk is a play about cultural differences, motherhood, and the many ways to love children.
History
Goldie, Max & Milk premiered at Florida Stage Company in West Palm Beach, Florida, on 15 December 2010. It made its off-Broadway debut, produced by Mary J. Davis and MDL Productions, at 59E59 Theaters on 1 May 2022.

MAX – Female, 30s. Big-hearted. A social worker. Postpartum, therefore subject to emotional swings that are not part of her base personality.

GOLDIE – 40ish. A lactation consultant. Domineering in a comforting way. Orthodox Jewish.

MIKE – 20s. A well-meaning slacker waking up to consequences.

LISA – 30s. Max’s ex and Mike’s sister. A lawyer. Often seems calm, reasonable and warm.

SHAYNA – Late teens. Goldie’s daughter. Sullen but quick.

  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting A wreck of a townhouse in Brooklyn. 2009.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Duration 105 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Drugs
    • Strong Language
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“Hartman's smart-crazy dialogue elicits a constant low roar of happy laughter from the audience.” – Broward Palm Beach New Times

“Hartman’s smart-crazy dialogue elicits a constant low roar of happy laughter from the audience... The point of Goldie, Max & Milk isn't that the liberal atheists or the tradition cleaving conservatives have all the answers. It's that the answers won’t mean anything if we can’t talk to each other.” – Broward Palm Beach New Times

“Hartman skillfully creates a sturdy architecture for the evening and peoples it with delightfully quirky complex characters who teeter close to Cartoonland, but never fall over the edge. But it’s her language and the ideas she investigates that elevate the work to the level of something well worth seeing.” – Florida Theatre On Stage

Videos

  • Behind the Scenes of Goldie, Max and Milk youtube thumbnail

    Behind the Scenes of Goldie, Max and Milk

  • Script Notes: Goldie, Max and Milk youtube thumbnail

    Script Notes: Goldie, Max and Milk

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Authors

Karen Hartman

Karen Hartman is a finalist for the 2023 international Susan Smith Blackburn prize. In 2022, her work launched VOLT at 59e59 Theaters, an unprecedented festival of three simultaneous off-Broadway premieres by a single author: New Golden Age (Primary Stages); The Lucky Star (T ...

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