What do you get when you mix a single lesbian mom with a newborn and an Orthodox Jewish lactation consultant? A play. (Actually, a play that should have been set where I live.)
Goldie, Max and Milk (Goldie is the lactation consultant, Max is the mom, and the lack of Milk is the occasion for their meeting) is a comedy by playwright Karen Hartman which opened in Florida late last year. Karen was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about the play. You'll find a video clip from it below.
What kind of breastfeeding difficulty is Max having that leads her to seek the help of a lactation consultant? Was this based on any personal experience?
At the start, Max's milk has not come in yet. The baby is nursing fine, but no milk from Max. Milk can be delayed by a c-section, which did, in fact, happen to me! I didn't seek a lactation consultant, but I always kind of wished I had.
What (if anything) does breastfeeding represent for the characters in the play?
Breastfeeding for Max is the ability to bond with the baby, to provide, to nourish, to be a good mother. She has a speech about how, pregnant, she was "the perfect mother" just by eating decently, she was able to "provide" a perfect environment. For an actual born human being, it's trickier. That's what Max comes up against. I think that for Goldie, breastfeeding represents what is "natural," and therefore Max's best hope to be a "normal" mother. That concept is much more loaded, politically, and I don't agree with what's behind it, but that's how Goldie feels.
The lactation consultant character is an Orthodox Jew. Lactation consultants are sometimes accused of an almost religious zeal for breastfeeding. Are you drawing parallels between religious orthodoxy and an ideological devotion to breastfeeding?
What an interesting idea! Goldie was loosely based on a real person who is an observant Jewish woman (though less Orthodox than Goldie) who consults to the mothers of Park Slope. I have since learned that many lactation consultants are traditionally religious women, whether Jewish, Catholics, or other religions (I've actually only heard stories about Jewish and Catholic consultants, so I'm guessing). I think I was less interested in breastfeeding as a militant religion in itself, and more interested in breastfeeding as a space where very traditional and very progressive people might meet. Who is "militant" about breastfeeding? Both the hyperconservative and the hyperliberal. To me, that's a story.
