Nilaja Sun’s one-woman play “No Child,” currently being staged at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, is a phenomenal mix of storytelling, journalism, activism, and civic engagement. The 70-minute performance isn’t bogged down by intricate sets, costume changes, or dazzling lighting design. Instead, Sun uses three chairs, a broom, and her ability to embody and humorously animate a dozen characters to start a meaningful conversation about education reform. The fact that it is as tech-free as a theater performance can get without leaving the audience literally sitting in the dark should serve as a lesson for everyone aiming to use new technologies to facilitate social justice.
“No Child” is a theatrical critique of the federal No Child Left Behind program, rendered in a manner that is more nuanced, thought-provoking, and urgent than any newspaper article or congressional debate could hope to be. Sun seamlessly inhabits the personas of students of different ethnicities, disinterested and overwhelmed parents, the school custodian, a surly principal, exhausted teachers, and the school security guard to bring to life a fraught Bronx-based high school. Her script focuses on a particular six-week stretch at the fictional Malcolm X High during which time a visiting artist–Sun herself–attempts to make a roomful of skeptical, sullen students stage “Our Country’s Good,” Timberlake Wertenbaker’s play about Australian prisoners. By evoking a school replete with metal detectors at each entrance and crumbling infrastructure that is saddled with issues ranging from teen pregnancy to gang warfare, Sun portrays the realities that are not reflected in jargon about the public school system.
Sun’s play succeeds because it uses the classic tropes of good stories–humor, vivid character portraits, dramatic action, a narrative arc–to ground lofty debates about government policy and social justice in everyday experiences and interpersonal relationships. Meanwhile, her performance resonates because “No Child” is essentially a journalistic enterprise. Sun’s script is based on her own experiences as a teaching artist in the New York City public school system, particularly in the Martin Luther King Jr. High School. Her familiarity with the subject matter of the script allowed Sun to tackle complex issues such as race, poverty, and single-parent families through subtle jokes and by endowing her characters with distinctive personality quirks. Despite the range of topics she addresses, Sun ensures that the play remains focused on the failed promises of the educational system.
Sun timed her play well; the No Child Left Behind program is up for renewal. In interviews, she has explicitly stated that she hopes the play will generate a conversation about educational reform. If the performance I saw is anything to go by, Sun has succeeded in getting people talking. Cheers, hoots, spontaneous clapping, a standing ovation, and post-show lobby buzz suggested that her play hit home with audience members, many of whom were teachers. By locating policy issues in people’s lives, Sun energized the debate by making a big issue impact viewers in a profoundly personal way. Her play has also started a conversation about education reform in the mainstream media, as evidenced by an editorial in The Boston Globe. It just goes to show that low tech can be high-impact, too.