Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...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."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The show runs just 75 minutes, and climaxes with a few priceless moments from the kids' performance. You might well find yourself wishing Sun could reprise the entire spectacle. But the excerpts are so vivid, so searing, so true and so heartbreaking that you see it all in your mind's eye anyway."
Pioneer Press - Highly Recommended
"...Author, playwright, and brilliant solo actor Sun creates the magic in a tour de force performance where she takes on the persona of 17 highly disparate characters: the school janitor, the principal, a visiting classroom drama teacher, her colleagues, and the boys and girls who comprise the class."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Over the course of 90 minutes she creates a vivid sense of her school and of a healthy cross section of her reluctant, rebellious students; she's especially adept at creating one memorable, believable character after another using only her voice and eloquent body language. Without pointing fingers, this edifying, highly entertaining show provides insight into why the similarities between schools and prisons is harming children."
EpochTimes - Highly Recommended
"...The production" No Child...", a one woman solo performance ( with a cast of over 16 roles, all played by the author- star Nilaja Sun) is a tour-de-force exploration of an actress/teacher attempting to do a play with a class of 15 year olds in the poorest section of New York. This is a magical theatrical experience as we watch Ms Sun go from janitor to teacher, from teacher to student, from male student to female student, from student to principal- she plays each role with expertise and moves from African American to Puerto Rican, from young man to young girl to old man with such ease and style that we are able to see the transformation take place in mere seconds."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...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."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Artistically, Ms. Sun has taken the first step of courageously opening her soul. If, as her career grows, she is able to use those same skills of observation and giving to touch broader topics, her future could be as lofty as her dreams for the children she so clearly loves. Lookingglass deserves a lot of credit for bringing Sun to Chicago."
