(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) — No Child…, written and performed by Nilaja Sun based on her experiences as a teaching artist in New York City public schools, will be performed at Bard College at the Fisher Center’s Theater Two on Friday, October 4 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, October 5 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, October 6 at 2 p.m.
Actress and writer Nilaja Sun was a teaching artist at a high school in the Bronx for many years, where every day she witnessed the huge challenges students face in simply coming to school. She directed them in a play, and their trials and triumphs form the basis of No Child… . In this remarkable solo performance, Sun herself takes all the parts, transforming into the students, teachers, parents, administrators, janitors, and security guards who inhabit our public schools and shape the future of America.
An award-winning hit play that was performed off-Broadway for more than a year, No Child… is directed by Hal Brooks. Presented as part of her Live Arts Bard residency, Sun will teach a course in solo performance at Bard College in spring 2013.
Called “theatrically riveting” by Variety, No Child … is a tour-de-force exploration of the New York City public school system, an insightful, hilarious and touching master class not to be missed by anyone who is concerned about the state of our education system. In Sun’s words, “I created this piece to be a snapshot from the trenches, something entertaining and provocative that’ll get people talking about the state of our public schools.”
Nilaja Sun is an actor, playwright, and teaching artist most known for her Obie award winning solo piece No Child… which had its initial off-Broadway run at the Barrow Street Theatre from July 2006 to June 2007 and was recently revived there in an extended run. For her creation and performance of No Child… and its subsequent national tour, Sun garnered 21 awards including an Obie Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards (including the John Gassner Playwriting Award for Outstanding New American Play), a Theatre World Award, the Helen Hayes Award, and two NAACP Theatre Awards. It was named the best one-person show at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
No Child… is published and has been licensed to over 45 theaters nationally since 2008. In 2010, Sun was awarded the soloNOVA Award for Artist of the Year by terraNOVA Collective. She has also been seen on 30 Rock, Law & Order: SVU, Unforgettable, Louie, The International, Rubicon, and in 2012, she will be seen in the independent films Nature Calls and Hairbrained. Sun was recently awarded a NYSCHA commission to create a new solo piece with Epic Theatre Ensemble. A native of the Lower East Side, she is a Princess Grace Award winner, an active board member of the International Theatre and Literacy Project, and has worked proudly as a teaching artist in New York City since 1998.
Tickets are $25; $5 for all students, and are available at the Fisher Center box office at Fisher Center’s Theater Two or by calling 845.758.7900.