remaining performances sold out

written and performed by nilaja sun
directed by hal brooks
thrust stage
may 11–june 11, 2008

running time: 70 minutes, no intermission

extended through june 11

A+ for the art

With No Child…, Nilaja Sun shines a light on the struggles—and miracles—of America’s public schools. In an incredible solo show, she plays an entire classroom of children, their teachers, their parents, the principal, the janitor and even a security guard with a metal detector at the front door. Sun takes on 16 roles in 70 minutes, transforming her eight-year adventure as a teaching artist into a master class on heartbreak, humor and hope. No Child… proves one passionate person can still make a difference, and this off-Broadway show became the breakaway hit of the year. Critics gave it straight A’s, audiences cheered and Sun won every award you can name. It’s a class act, so don’t leave No Child… behind.

A+ for the awards

As the breakout hit of the New York theatre season, No Child… graduated with top honors:

• 2007 Obie Award for Distinguished Performances
• 2007 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Production
• 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New American Play
• 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance
• 2007 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Award for Best Solo Show
• 2007 Theater World Award for Best Debut Performance

A+ for the artists

Nilaja Sun is so bright you can’t look away. She’s been a teaching artist in the New York public school system for eight years while also writing and performing in numerous off-Broadway shows. She received the prestigious Princess Grace Award for theatre in 2003, and has been inundated with prizes for No Child… as it’s toured Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC. In Yoruba, her first name—appropriately enough—means “peacemaker.”

Hal Brooks is renowned for directing powerful solo shows. In fact, his production of Thom Pain (based on nothing) by Will Eno played nearly two years off Broadway, and the play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A member of the Directors Lab at Lincoln Center and the former artistic director of Rude Mechanicals Theatre Company in New York, Brooks also staged the off-Broadway premiere of Don DeLillo’s Valparaiso.

A+ for the acclaim

Sun stands and delivers in No Child…—LA Times

“Nilaja Sun’s tour-de-force performance as a classroom of multiethnic Bronx high school students, several teachers, the principal, janitor and others, sometimes seemingly all at once, is astonishing but the major achievement of her solo show about attempting to put on a play with worst-case students is the affecting degree to which the students emerge as fully defined individuals. Smoothly staged by Hal Brooks, the crisp, comic and moving 70-minute show is passionate about the need for art in the schools and eloquent about the potential of children too often left behind.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“A bravura act of performance…Her undaunted sense of optimism as she bounces across the stage as a tireless champion of the arts, the next generation and the fate of citizenry at large, is beyond infectious…It doesn’t just make you want to applaud. It makes you want to hold someone accountable for leaving so very many children behind.”—San Jose Mercury News

“A remarkable and delightfully entertaining show…A paean to teachers…Remarkably, it is a 16-character show with only one actor on the stage and playing all the parts…To make this work, she relies on an impressive physicality, both in the way she moves her body and in an evocative array of facial expressions…Sun’s characters are on and off almost before you realize it.”—Contra Costa Times

“The most amazing solo show you will ever see…You’ve never seen a performer like her before. And, her ability to structure it with comedy is fantastic…This 70-minute hit show culminates with a most inspiring finish. By all means, don’t miss seeing Nilaja Sun!”—KGO radio

“A marvelous performance…touching and funny.”—New York Times

“Theatrically riveting…It’s enough to make the angels weep to watch this caring, committed performance artist recreate her experiences at notoriously bad-news schools…Every kid deserves a teacher like Nilaja Sun.”—Variety

“A couple seasons back, Sarah Jones burst onto the off-Broadway scene with Bridge & Tunnel and raised the proverbial bar for solo shows. Now, with the sensational No Child…, Nilaja Sun has pretty much obliterated it.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Amazing…We see what Sun is saying, and we agree. Art is a different way, often a better way to tap into a child’s soul than rote learning. But of course all the art in the world can’t stop a bullet. And Sun doesn’t shy away from the bullets and the abuse and the neglect of inner-city life…While the 70-minute play doesn’t turn into a political lecture, it’s easy to infer that Sun sees a problem in a system that forces schools to drop classes about the arts in favor of standardized testing…One teacher can make all the difference [and] when the teacher is as good as Nilaja Sun, that pie is pretty delectable.”—National Public Radio

“A 16-character, two-gender, eight-ethnicity extravaganza. Sun transforms nightly into diverse personalities of all ages who form the tempestuous life of a New York City public school…Sun has repeatedly been compared to her idol Robin Williams for her talent for mimicry, and like Williams she harbors her serious side…actors are courting her advice, directors are clamoring to enlist her talents, and teachers—above all—are calling her their savior.”—American Theatre

“Like Lily Tomlin and Whoopi Goldberg in their early work, Sun brings us not her world but the world…An object lesson in what should not be missing from any life curriculum: hope.”—The New Yorker

“Major talents such as Danny Hoch and Jefferson Mays have set this genre’s bar high. But Nilaja Sun takes the art of quick change into hyperspeed with No Child…, her solo show about theater as urban emergency kit…What may sound like a predictable journey from hard knocks to triumph shifts into something electric through Sun’s stunning, disciplined performance.”—LA Times

“Teachers are going to love Nilaja Sun’s one-woman show No Child…”—New York Times

“An unexpected, superb achievement. No Child… is about the difference a single human being can make in the kingdom of the damned. No child left behind? Not while Nilaja Sun is around.”—New York Observer

“There’s nothing like attending one of those rare shows that lights up a stage so much it makes us glad to be alive. It’s what keeps us going back to the theater, even when the pickings are thin, hoping that we’ll stumble across another such gem. If we encounter one or two a season, it’s a very good year.”—Standard Times (Boston)

“Sun doesn’t just shine, she blazes…If you’re seeking a follow-up to Sarah Jones’ brilliant Bridge & Tunnel, this is it. Here’s another multicharacter solo show that shines a warm, welcome light on the city’s margins…a bravura crowd-pleaser.”—New York Newsday

“Virtuosic…intelligent, clear-eyed, and sometimes painfully funny…By reminding us of the actual children who are, for all the rhetoric, getting left behind No Child… reminds us why we simply must do better for this next generation of our fellow citizens.”—Boston Globe

“To call her a virtuoso would be an understatement. She pushes herself to the limit, and the result is not to be missed.”—Boston Herald

“Superbly performed and thoroughly gripping…No Child… is a must-see—especially for teachers, who will understand and appreciate this show best of all.”—Chicago Tribune

“In No Child…, the life altering affect theatre can have on children is thrown center stage.”—BroadwayWorld.com

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Photographer: Melissa Friedman

 

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