Sarasota’s Urbanite Theatre always likes to take chances onstage, presenting new works, often edgy, with regularity. Latest up is the world premiere of a piece the theater commissioned, Nia Akilah Robinson’s From 145^th to 98^th Street, centered on a Black family that has moved from Harlem to a better neighborhood in hopes of improving their children’s lives.

Robinson’s story, and her approach to it, might sound a bit of a mix of The Jeffersons and A Raisin in the Sun. There are moments of drama, but often the play veers back and forth between seriousness and comedy. That can be a successful blend, but here it feels awkward at times. Not every line of dialogue rings true or seems logical; if that’s intentional, it’s not always apparent.

The four main characters of the Curtly family include parents Jackie (Imani Slates) and Cedric (Brian Darnell Coats), who no doubt want the best for their children but don’t necessarily listen to what those kids themselves want. Jamal (Ibukun Omotowa) has a job at a gym, preferring not to go to college, but his job security and safety are threatened when a local TV newscast misidentifies him as a criminal. Daughter Fatima (Sol Fuller), meanwhile, is wrestling with her own indecision about attending college, feeling she won’t be good enough wherever she goes.

That there is love on all sides never seems in doubt, and any parent can relate to the situation here. There are some sharp, sitcom-like lines (“Anxiety is for white people” is one), and an impromptu rap music session is fun and lively.

But there also are some rather pointless moves (under the direction of Jerrica D. White), from room to room of the larger-than-usual set designed by Frank Chavez, and out-the-door runs to the grocery store that are very quick ones indeed and just seem like business. With an exception or two, the turning on or off of the living room’s TV set signals nothing significant. The arrival of a neighbor (Ariel Blue) objecting to noise switches, not necessarily convincingly, to that neighbor’s sudden solicitude for the Curtlys and their plight.

The ending of the play, while certainly not unexpected, is not all that convincingly arrived at, either. Overall, Robinson’s script, concerned with what the Curtlys have lost or left behind, doesn’t always gel, but there is hope it could with more work and other productions. At the least, From 145^th offers local audiences a glimpse of a family life they probably don’t often see.

From 145^th to 98^th Street continues at Urbanite through June 29. For tickets, call (941) 321-1397 or visit urbanitetheatre.com.