NO CHILD …
by Nilaja Sun
Directed by PASCALE FLORESTALº
One of the “16 theater productions to see this summer” by WBUR‘s Jacquinn Sinclair
At Malcolm X High School, situated in the poorest congressional district in the U.S., every morning students are greeted with metal detectors and security guards. When enthused teaching artist Ms. Sun enters Ms. Tam’s 10th Grade class, she hopes to inspire students through a six-week workshop of Our Country’s Good, a play about convicts putting on a play. The room of rowdy teens do not don the “thespian” title as proudly as Ms. Sun had hoped as she muses on her choice of play. Through theatrical techniques and classroom connections, the students and Ms. Sun discover how one determined individual can make a difference in the lives of many.
Inspired by playwright Nilaja Sun’s nine years as an NYC public schools teaching artist, No Child… offers a unique perspective to the challenges facing the US education system in this multi-charactered, solo show directed by Pascale Florestalº. Running from August 7 to 23, all performances are at Gloucester Stage’s Theater 267 East Main Street, Gloucester. Showtimes are Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00pm, and matinees Saturdays & Sunday at 3:00pm.
Runtime is 75 minutes with no intermission. Rated PG 16+ for language and adult content
AUGUST 7 – 23
Performances
7:30 pm, WED + THU
8:00 pm, FRI + SAT
3:00 pm, SAT + SUN
7:30 pm, TUES AUG 19
Preview Performances
August 7 @ 7:30 pm + 8 @ 8:00 pm
Champagne Opening
Saturday, August 9 @ 6:00 pm
Artist Talk Backs
August 16 + 23 @ 4:30 pm
Pre-show Coffee Break w/ Artistic Director Rebecca Bradshaw
August 10 + 17 @ 2:00 pm
Critical Praise for Gloucester Stage’s No Child…
“Turner…brings a potent mix of empathy and energy to the stage.”
” Eloquent portrayal”
“Hands down, one of the best things I’ve seen this year.”
“A humorous, timely, poignant, educational and inspiring journey.”
“I felt an invigorating impact in Gloucester Stage’s black box theater…This show needs to be witnessed.”
“Showcases An A+ Solo Performance”
“Beautifully acted”
Karen Gross, Medium (read full review here)
Trailers and Behind the Scenes videos for No Child…
Meet the Creative Team
Nilaja Sun (she/her) / Playwright
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-June 2007 and was recently revived there in an extended run. For her creation and performance of NO CHILD… and its subsequent national tour, Nilaja garnered twenty-one 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, two NAACP Theatre Awards, and was named the Best One-Person Show at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. NO CHILD… is published and has been licensed out to over forty-five theatres nationally since 2008. In 2010, Nilaja 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.” A native of the Lower East Side, she is a Princess Grace Award winner and has worked proudly as a teaching artist in New York City since 1998.
Pascale Florestalº (she/her) / Director
Pascale Florestal is a first generation Haitian American Queer Woman. She is a three time Elliot Norton Nominated Director, Educator, Dramaturg, Writer and Collaborator based in Boston, MA. Recent directing credits include: Is This America? with White Snake Projects, Your Town with Central Square Theater, Next to Normal with Central Square Theater and The Front Porch Arts Collective, MidSummer; Kinda? written and directed by Pascale Florestal at Suffolk University, World Premiere of Phaedra Michelle Scott’s DIASPORA! with New Repertory Theater, Magic Flute with MassOpera, Fairview with SpeakEasy Stage, Spring Awakening with Brandeis University, The Colored Museum with The Umbrella Performing Arts Center, Once On This Island with SpeakEasy Stage, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing with Emerson Stage, Everybody with Boston Conservatory and others. As an Assistant to the Director she has worked with Timothy Douglas, Liesl Tommy, Billy Porter, Paul Daigneault and M. Bevin O’Gara. Pascale served as the Associate Director to Gil Rose on X:The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Odyssey Opera and Kimberly Senior on Our Daughters, Like Pillars at The Huntington Theater. Pascale also served as the Associate Director for The Broadway National Tour of Jagged Little Pill. In 2021 Pascale was named one of the WBUR ARTery 25 Artists of Color Transforming the Cultural Landscape in Boston. In 2020 she won the Inaugural Greg Ferrell Award for her excellence in teaching and supporting young people. She serves as the Director of Education & Community Engagement for The Front Porch Arts Collective and is an Assistant Professor of Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music.
Meet the Cast
Valyn Lyric Turner* / Actor
Valyn Lyric Turner is an actor, writer, and educator originally from Sugar Hill, Georgia. She is thrilled to be back at GSC, having played Nina in VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE last summer. Other recent stage credits include THE GROVE (2025 Elliot Norton Award Nominee) and JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN at the Huntington, DIASPORA! and A RAISIN IN THE SUN (2024 Elliot Norton Award) at New Repertory Theatre, and SEVEN GUITARS at Actor’s Shakespeare Project. Valyn also stars in the Lifetime movie MY ACTING COACH NIGHTMARE (2024). When she is not performing, Valyn works as a theatre educator and substitute teacher in the Boston area, working with students ages 5-18. Valyn is a proud graduate of Boston University where she earned her BFA in Theatre Arts and BA in Spanish. She is delighted to share Nilaja Sun’s stunning work with you in her last performance before starting at Yale University’s David Geffen School of Drama this fall.
Meet the Production Team
Ash Boze / Assistant Stage Manager
(she/ they) is a recent graduate from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She is an alum of Alpha Psi Omega. Recent credits include: Witch (McNeese Theatre) as Winnifred, Polaroid Stories (McNeese Theatre) as Orpheus, Tender Atlas (McNeese Theatre) as intimacy captain, Kimberly Akimbo (McNeese Theatre) as props designer, Christmas Bells (ACTS theatre, Lake Charles) as stage manager. They would like to thank their partner, Lana, for taking care of their animals so she has the chance to travel and work. As well as, her mom for always supporting her in every decision and opportunity.
Amanda Fallon / Lighting Designer
(they/she) is a lighting designer, director, visual artist, and educator with love for new work and devising. Following the completion of an MFA in Lighting Design at Boston University, they’ve continued to design throughout New England for professional and educational institutions including Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Central Square Theatre, Speakeasy Stage Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, and Brandeis University. They are pleased to return to Gloucester!
Chelsea Kerl / Costume Designer
Chelsea Kerl is a Boston based freelance artist and educator; she received her MFA in Costume Design from Boston University and previously attended the University of Maryland. Previous designs at Gloucester: The Hombres, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Tall Tales From Blackburn Tavern, Grand Horizons, Mr. Fullerton Between the Sheets, Tiny Beautiful Things, Native
Gardens, Ben Butler, Madame Defarge, To Kill a Mockingbird, Man in Snow, Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!), A Measure of Normalcy, and Gloucester Blue. Chelsea is the costume shop manager and costume design professor at Wellesley College; she also teaches at Bridgewater State University and previously worked in the costume shop of the American Repertory Theatre. Select recent designs include- Huntington Theatre Company: Witch (Elliot Norton Award Winner, Outstanding Design: Large Theatre), Wheelock Family Theatre at BU: Willy Wonka; SpeakEasy Stage Company/Front Porch Arts Collective: Pass Over; Company One/American Repertory Theatre: Greater Good. More of her work can be seen at www.chelseakerl.com.
Jacques Matellus / Sound Designer
Jacques Matellus is an actor and sound designer based in Brockton MA and is thrilled to be making his Gloucester Stage debut as a sound designer. His most recent credits include NAWFSIDE at the Tank, and Ain’t no Mo as an assistant. Jacques would like to thank Pascal for this opportunity
Leanna Niesen* / Production Stage Manager
Leanna Niesen is thrilled to be back at Gloucester Stage after spending last summer as a Stage Management Apprentice! As an apprentice, she was Assistant Stage Manager for Wipeout and The Hombres. More recent credits include A Hundred Words for Snow (Chester Theatre Company), The Spitfire Grill (Umbrella Arts), Fucking A (Boston Conservatory), Noises Off (Lyric Stage Company), Lysistrata (Odyssey Opera), and Of Thee I Sing & Let Them Eat Cake (Odyssey Opera). Leanna is a graduate of Muhlenberg College.
Cristina Todesco / Scenic Designer
Cristina is pleased to back at Gloucester Stage Company. Previous GSC credits: Billy Bishop Goes to War, and The Totalitarians. She has designed over 300 live performances with companies such as Boston Symphony Orchestra, Capital Rep, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Geva Theater Center, Israeli Stage, Landestheater in Linz Austria , Lyric Stage, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory, Huntington Theater, Shakespeare and Company, Speakeasy Stage, and Trinity Repertory Theater, among many more. She teaches in the Scene Design department at Boston University where she received her master’s degree. She is a founding artist of Humphreys Street Studios Artist Collective, one of the first majority artist owned and operated affordable artist workspaces in perpetuity in the City of Boston, and a founding member of #artstayhere, an organization dedicated to helping prevent artist displacement.
Critical Praise for Nilaja Sun’s No Child…
“In its modest and engaging way, her play tells us something vital about our world and does it without resorting to tacky spectacle or feckless celebrities.”
“Impressively fluid, and the epilogue is quite funny”
“Heartbreak, humor, warmth and hope can be packed into seventy minutes of exceptional theatre. “
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)
ºThe Director is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC)
^Represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE
NO CHILD… is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing Group / Dramatists Play Service.