10-26-07
Riveting Performance, Typical Script
I fully recognize that I came to No Child… with a different perspective than that of most of the audience that shared the theatre with me. I have actually taught theatre to “difficult students” and experienced both the frustration and jubilation of that process. And I have to say, I would have been ecstatic to have the students portrayed by solo performer Nilaja Sun.
Sun has put in her time as a teaching artist in New York’s public high schools, and so she knows whereof she speaks. From that perspective she has written this one-woman show that sets out to criticize the education system.
First we meet an old janitor who acts as narrator, guiding the audience. He gradually reveals the story of Sun, who portrays herself as a young actor hired as a teaching artist at fictional Malcolm X High School. There she works mornings with a difficult group of students to analyze and then put up a production of Our Country’s Good. Along the way she faces some self-doubt when the students seem to rebel and, of course, both she and the students learn something about themselves.
If this sounds familiar, well that’s because it’s the plot of pretty much every inspiring-teacher story ever written. And because an entire semester has to be fit into a one-hour show, the teacher reaches the students easily and changes happen at an unrealistic pace. The obligatory bout with self-doubt comes and goes quickly. The characters are well written and distinct, but the writing on the whole is more competent than inspired.
No Child… has had its success based largely on Sun’s skill as a performer. She successfully creates a room full of distinct personalities and, most impressively, allows them to visibly relate to one another. Her work is particularly helped by light designer Mark Barton who matches Sun’s sharp transitions with equally sudden changes in light.
Sun received a standing ovation the performance I attended, and it may be an audience less familiar with teaching and the mythology of teaching found themselves more engaged with her material. But for me, Sun’s performance elevates decent material. I can’t say that No Child… broke any new ground in discussing education in America. But it does showcase an impressive solo artist.
No Child…, Lookingglass Theatre
Chris Jones, Tribune—“No Child is a must-see—especially for teachers, who will understand and appreciate this show best of all—because it combines a persuasive critique of the failings in one of society’s most sacred obligations with an innate understanding of the emotional toil of trying to teach well. And like all the best shows based on social observation, it’s also willing to celebrate the personal eccentricities that populate every community. Sun sees the fun in these inner-city kids, as much as the imminent potential for tragedy in their lives.”
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“No Child... (the title riffs on the government initiative ‘No Child Left Behind,’ but also subtly suggests that the lives of many children are gutted of innocence from very early on) is a marvel on every level. It should be seen by anyone fascinated by the way an empty stage can be filled by the sheer power of voice, body language and a brilliant interpreter of character. But more crucially, it should be mandatory viewing for every government official in this nation, and for all those who believe it is possible to write off the public school system and still have a country with a future.”
Jack Helbig, Reader—“In this autobiographical show by New York-based writer-performer Nilaja Sun, a well-intentioned neophyte begins teaching in a dysfunctional public school and, despite problems, ultimately changes her students and is changed herself. But Sun delivers the familiar tale with economy, grace, and power, creating a vivid sense of her school and of a healthy cross section of her rebellious students. This edifying, entertaining show provides insight into why the similarities between schools and prisons are harming children.”
Mary Kroeck, New City—“The play kicks off Lookingglass Theater’s 20th anniversary season after running for over a year to sold-out audiences in New York. Sun portrays the struggles and triumphs of a 10th-grade inner-city class and, in the process, she transforms herself into 16 different characters (male and female) in body and voice. Sun enraptures her audience and takes them on a journey that is memorable long after the theater lights go down. This show truly encapsulates what it’s like to be a part of today’s public educational system, an absolute must-see.”
Christopher Piatt, Time Out—“But at the end of the show, while trying to discern how such predictable theatrical gestures earn the huge reaction eluding so many similar-looking projects, consider this: Sun never once asks for our sympathy. All her characters are at risk, but she never lets us feel like our caring about them might fix the situation. She’s moving too quickly for us to offer our guilt; of the many impressive aspects of Sun’s clean, comic, athletically Spartan performance, its speed tops the list.”
The Crucible, Steppenwolf Theatre Co.
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“[I]n the hands of director Anna D. Shapiro and her fiery cast of 20, The Crucible takes on a whole new clarity, depth and contemporaneity, and becomes compulsively watchable. Not only has Shapiro illuminated the complex weave of causes behind the witchcraft hysteria, she and her actors have found a way to punch through the distancing formality of the Puritan locutions so that the emotional content dominates, and the play radiates an intensely modern energy. This energy is further enhanced by the presence of two superb black actors in crucial roles historically played by white actors.”
Justin Hayford, Reader—“For much of Anna D. Shapiro’s stagy first act you might wonder why anyone would produce this chestnut, with actors marching around in 17th-century costumes. But in the final two acts she gets out of the way of the text and her cast, revealing the psychological and political intricacies of Arthur Miller’s 1952 drama about the hysteria over Salem ‘witchcraft.’ Miller’s context was McCarthyism, but ours is Guantanamo Bay—and this production has a harrowing contemporary resonance.”
Dennis Polkow, New City—“Directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro, it features a first-class ensemble cast that more disturbingly portrays the non-stop engine of hysteria and panic that underlies the text more accurately than any production I have encountered. What is particularly moving about James Vincent Meredith’s portrayal of John Proctor is his total vulnerability in the face of his own weaknesses.”
Novid Parsi, Time Out—“Arthur Miller’s political allegory so fully seized his American moment that the playwright still grasps our own. Impressively, director Anna Shapiro and her riveting cast understand that Miller expresses unforgiving analysis through fully, fiercely realized characters. This director eschews the brush for the scalpel, cutting straight to the play’s rapidly beating heart; the girls’ witch-naming scenes frighten and thrill. As Proctor, James Meredith mesmerizes; he emanates the farmer’s unflappable common sense and decency. So effective is this drama that it opens the floor not just to political questions but theatrical ones: Where is today’s Miller?”
Lawrence Bommer, Free Press—“A pile-driving Steppenwolf Theatre production, Anna B. Shapiro’s fast-paced staging explores every twist and turn as it heads for its devastating conclusion. Miller registers the town’s terror by focusing on John Proctor, an ordinary farmer forced into a reluctant heroism. Drawn into the nightmare in order to protect his wife, Proctor finally stands up to the true evil—his hate-ridden home town. Miller doesn’t try to cover up these horrors with retroactive psychology or historical revisionism. By rooting them in the raw weaknesses of the Salem citizens, he forces us to ask, where would we stand?”
Catey Sullivan, Windy City—“Twenty years ago, Gary Sinise dismissed The Crucible as outside Steppenwolf’s rough and raw aesthetic. ‘I can’t see us doing a play where people are called “Goodie” and wear buckles on their shoes,’ he’s quoted in Richard Christiansen’s ‘A Theatre of Our Own.’ What a difference a few decades make. The buckles and quaintly monikered characters are out in abundance in the Steppenwolf’s forceful, unnervingly timely revival of Arthur Miller’s classic. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, the piece roils with relevancy.”
Desire Under the Elms, The Hypocrites
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“Desire is definitely not an easy work to carry off, but with the Hypocrites’ production at the Chopin Theatre studio space, director Geoff Button and his cast have created a lip-smackingly good production. And set designer Tracy Otwell deserves special applause for devising a fabulous environment—with moist soil covering every inch of the performance space, and conjuring a sense of the hardscrabble existence and rock-strewn soil of a New England farm.”
Albert Williams, Reader—“Eugene O’Neill’s 1924 shocker retains its tragic force in the Hypocrites’ taut, intelligent revival. Based on the myth of Phaedra and set in the 1850s, it’s the story of a young woman who marries an old farmer, then seduces his son in a bid to take over the farm. Geoff Button’s well-crafted staging charts the characters’ shifting relationships while illuminating O’Neill’s vision of how the human spirit is warped by a lust to possess the land.”
Megan Powell, Time Out—“The hardscrabble place desired by the troubled Cabots is subtly conjured by designers Tracy Otwell (set) and Jared Moore (lights), almost stealing the show in what’s very much an actors’ play (here sensitively and meticulously rendered by the ensemble) and giving director Button an ideal canvas on which to create some arrestingly deliberative moments. The Cabot farm is so palpable that the theater smells like earth, since the floors are covered inches deep with mulch, and the home reflects the increasing destruction of the family, with disjointed rooms and a parlor lit in red, illuminating the inflamed nexus of the play.”
Brian Kirst, Free Press—“There are so many lovely elements to The Hypocrites’ season-opening production of Desire Under the Elms that it resembles a plate full of comfort food. Tracy Otwell’s scenic design turns the cavernous basement studio at the Chopin Theatre into a rustic farmhouse with a ground cover of mulch to complete the transformation. Jared Moore’s suggestive lighting design evokes the emotion of the story and the beauty of location. One almost forgets the low ceiling that replaces a wide-open sky. Kevin O’Donnell’s original music and sound design complete the sensory rendering with a subtle soundtrack to the movement of the story. But for me the plate of favorites was less than satisfying and topped with a pickle. (I hate pickles.)”
Brian Kirst, Free Press—“Director Geoff Button enthusiastically graces O’Neill’s combination of realism and Greek tragedy with a sure hand. He is especially convincing in creating the essence of the looming specter of Eben’s dead mother. With the help of sound designer Kevin O’Donnell and lighting designer Jared Moore, Button is able to fully establish the power of Eben’s belief in the presence of his long-departed parent. Button is also able to guide multi-layered performances from his cast. That some of the performances are ultimately imbued with a slightly overacted aura does not take away from the final enjoyment of the proceedings.”
MiLK, MPAACT
Brian Nemtusak, Time Out—“Written in the lived-experience shadow of the projects, the story follows a group of young, black, female friends as they enter early adulthood, in particular Baby, the vivacious good girl who’s raped by a neighborhood regular. Even as they’re introduced, Mr. Conn and his assault are a little too nightmarish, but the basic vulnerability of the child of public housing rings chillingly true. And the flawless yet genuine performances of the cast are a movement-and-patter tour de force, especially in a joyous (and electrifying) double-dutch jump-rope call-and-response set piece. The second act unfortunately gets snared in the traps traditionally littering this field.”
Scott C. Morgan, Windy City—“It’s certainly honorable that playwright/actress Nambi E. Kelley would want to write a play drawing from her own brief experiences growing up during the 1980s in trying conditions in former Chicago housing projects like the Robert Taylor Homes or the Ida B. Wells Homes. So I’m ashamed to admit that I wasn’t really moved by Kelley’s MiLK, a revised revival presented by MPAACT which is producing a season of revivals at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse. My reluctance with MiLK had nothing to do with the fine performances under the watch of veteran director Chuck Smith, but more with the half-hearted script conventions and sometimes confusing dramatic structure Kelley attaches to the play.”
Quote of the Fortnight:
“I come from a long line of actual Greek drama, dysfunction, comedy and tragedy.”—Venus Zarris reviewing Court’s production of Thyestes in Gay Chicago.