Booked & Scene

Nilaja Sun’s No Child…, directed at Gloucester Stage by Pascale Florestal, drops us into Malcolm X High School in the Bronx, where a visiting teaching artist tries to wrangle a class of disinterested students into performing a play. Over the course of 75 minutes, we meet a janitor with a sharp sense of humor, teachers juggling burnout, administrators pushing for results, and a group of kids navigating their own personal and systemic challenges. It’s a fast-paced, heartfelt, and often hilarious exploration of education, art, and resilience—one that manages to balance biting comedy with gut-punch moments of truth.

Attendance: Full House, One Actress

Valyn Lyric Turner is the beating heart of No Child…, and what she pulls off here is nothing short of astonishing. Over 75 uninterrupted minutes, she takes on sixteen distinct characters — students, teachers, administrators, and the wise, world-weary janitor who narrates the piece. In lesser hands, a solo show like this can become muddled, with characters bleeding into each other or feeling like variations on the same note. With Valyn, every single person we meet is instantly recognizable, fully formed, and bursting with personality.  Just as impressive is her ability to move from laugh-out-loud humor to moments of piercing vulnerability that left more than a few audience members misty-eyed. She is an absolute tour-de-force. Turner’s performance isn’t just impressive; it’s the kind that stays with you as you continue on in your day, marveling at how much one performer can hold in their hands and deliver with such precision and heart..

Lesson Planning at Its Finest

While Turner is the one onstage, the clarity and vitality of this production are deeply shaped by Pascale Florestal’s direction. She’s orchestrated the flow of the piece so that it never feels static, even though it’s one performer carrying the entire story. The staging, the movement through the space, the subtle but telling mannerisms for each character, these are the results of thoughtful collaboration between actor and director. Florestal’s choices create stage pictures that feel both dynamic and intimate, allowing Turner’s range to shine while keeping the audience grounded in the world of Malcolm X High School.

The One Mark On the Report Card

It’s hard to find much to critique here—this is one of the strongest productions I’ve seen not just this summer, but all year. If I had to be nitpicky, a few of the sound effects occasionally pulled me out of the moment. Hallway chatter or applause from an imagined audience, for example, felt unnecessary in a show where we’re already suspending disbelief. Turner’s performance is so vivid that we can conjure those sounds ourselves. These moments didn’t derail the piece, but it’s worth noting that the show’s strongest magic came from what we could see and feel directly in the room.

A Love Letter in Lesson Form

If you’ve ever worked in a school, taught a class, or simply believed in the transformative power of art and mentorship, No Child… will hit you straight in the heart. With Turner’s stunning performance and Florestal’s precise, heartfelt direction, this is theater that feels urgent, human, and deeply necessary. It’s funny, it’s moving, and it speaks directly to why educators, and those who champion them, matter.  It’s a love letter to often overlooked and undervalued educators and a moving reminder that one person’s presence can change the course of a room… or a life. Hands down, one of the best things I’ve seen this year.

No Child… is 75 minutes long and runs through August 23. Get tickets here.