Theater: "No Child ..." is a must-see

Two thumbs up for the American Repertory Theater's "No Child...", written and performed by Nilaja Sun. It is both touching and funny.

In a one-woman show, Nilaja acts as herself (an actress and drama teacher); a wise, elderly male janitor; a disenchanted school security guard manning the X-ray machine; and numerous ethnicities and both genders of students at Malcolm X High School in the Bronx. Her inspiration is her own experience in the New York City school system. With this memorable play, she brings attention to the sorry state of public schools without sermonizing or lecturing.

Playing herself, she tries to teach the fictional high school's "worst class" to memorize and perform "Our Country's Good," a drama about Australian convicts set in the 1700s. Like the feel-good movies where an inspiring teacher motivates economically disadvantaged students to achieve the previously impossible, Nilaja succeeds in staging the play only six weeks after she starts at the high school. And she makes a difference in their lives.

See this play -- even if you don't have children. It's what theater is all about -- a moving and entertaining production which makes you laugh, wince and think all at the same time. At the ART in Cambridge, MA through December 23rd.