Theater Aims to Inspire Teens at NFA

By Kerry Butrick, Newburgh Enlarged School District

On Fri., October 1, 2010, tenth grade students at Newburgh Free Academy were treated to a special performance of “No Child…” written and performed by Nilaja Sun. “No Child…” , a one-woman performance, has received critical acclaim throughout the country and internationally winning 17 awards. The event was sponsored by Mount Saint Mary College and funded by The National Endowment for the Arts.

During the theatrical performance, Sun takes on the roles of students in a tenth grade classroom at an urban high school in the Bronx, their teachers, their parents, the principal, the janitor, and even a security guard in the high school. She also portrays herself as a young teacher-artist struggling to motivate the students to rehearse for an upcoming play, “Our Country’s Good”, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s play about prisoners in Australia who put on a performance of their own.

After Sun begins to question her position as a teacher-artist and the education system as a whole, she decides to continue her role as a mentor to the students pushing them along in their quest to rehearse for the upcoming play. Her goal is to motivate the students to see their own potential in the world despite the obstacles that are thrown their way both in and out of school. Topics in the play included the value of education, self-worth, teen pregnancy and gangs.

Following the performance, Sun held a question-and-answer session with both Newburgh Free Academy and Mount Saint Mary College students to discuss the themes and topics in the performance as well as the education system.