"No Child" a lesson in hope over experience

HARTFORD - Once again TheaterWorks has produced thought-provoking, relevant theater.
"No Child" tells the story of a teaching artist at the Malcolm X High School in the Bronx, New York.

Originally performed as a one-woman Off-Broadway show by its creator and playwright Nilaja Sun at the Barrow Street Theater in New York, this production wisely divides the multitude of characters among four actors.

Donnetta Lavinia Grays plays Ms. Sun with earnest eagerness, while the other three actors, Lizan Mitchell, Portia, and Anthony Mark Stockard, switch from one character to another with lightening speed and remarkable talent.

Mitchell’s first remarkable character is a high school janitor who has been cleaning the high school since 1958 and gives the history of the decline of the facility. The set is one dilapidated cinderblock school room with cracked and broken wire-embedded windows, well designed by Brian Prather.

The exotic atmosphere of a predominantly black and Hispanic high school was likely foreign territory for the primarily Caucasian audience Saturday. It was an education in the state of the inner-city educational institutions, as well as the external world of single parent families, gang violence, and the effect of poverty on change.
The story line follows Sun’s character as she attempts to produce a play at the high school with a class of 10th grade students, while confronting changes in teaching staff, mutinous students, and a supportive administration.

At one point Sun, who is black, says in frustration: "I can’t even help my own people. The whole system is falling apart- we are getting them ready for jail-we have abandoned them."

Portia, whose characters’ morph from the school’s authoritative but kind principal Mrs. Kennedy, to the rigid security guard, to a teenage mother-to-be, and others, is convincing in all.

Anthony Mark Stockard also is remarkable, transforming instantly from one persona to the next. He uses his sweatshirt hood as an aid for one character, and plays a convincing sassy teenage girl named Sharika, an Asian boy, an angry class leader named Jerome, and a competent authoritative teacher.

In addition to the male janitor Mr. Barry, Mitchell is fascinating and totally committed as the naïve Asian teacher, a boy who can barely speak named Phillip, a barking Russian teacher, and more.

The slang and accents are thick, peppered with profuse profanity, and are spit out at a rapid-fire pace, but somehow the actors manage to make most of the dialog intelligible, with assistance from dialect consultant Gillian Lane-Plescia.

Sad statistics abound in this play about the lamentable state of inner-city schools. Principal Kennedy says one class had seen five different teachers in a year, while 79 percent of the student body has experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. Sun says: "Those kids in there need a miracle - They need a miracle everyday."

It all seems pretty grim, but there is plenty of humor and hope that elevates "No Child" into something quite special.

Occasionally this one act play feels a little preachy, but there is no doubt Sun has lived this life and listened well to the hearts and minds of the kids, and ultimately honors their struggle for meaning and self-respect in a harsh and difficult world.

NO CHILD
3 1/2 Stars
Theater: TheaterWorks
Location: 233 Pearl Street, Hartford.
Production: By Nilaja Sun. Directed by Rob Ruggiero. Lighting designed by John Lasiter. Costume designed by Peg Carbonneau. Sound designed by J. Hagenbuckle. Dialect consultant Gillian Lane-Plescia.
Running time: 1 hour and 15 minutes, no intermission
Show Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. The show will run through October 12.
Tickets: Unassigned seating is $37; $47 on Friday and Saturday nights. Center reserved seats $11 extra. $11 student rush tickets at showtime with valid identification, subject to availability. For tickets call 860-527-7838 or visit their website at www.theaterworks.org.

ACTOR...CHARACTER
Lizan Mitchell ...Various Characters
Donnetta Lavinia Grays ... Ms. Sun
Portia ... Various Characters
Anthony Mark Stockard ... Various Characters