“If you can read this, thank a teacher.”

An American proverb like this speaks volumes about teaching being the very foundation of most everything in life.  Without the inspiring art of teaching, the world would be a very different place.

To think some people know they are born to teach and through it all, they do just that.

Beautifully directed by Pascale Florestal, Gloucester Stage continues Nilaja Sun’s semi-autobiographical No Child, a one person production continuing live and in person at Gloucester Stage Company in Gloucester, Massachusetts through Saturday, August 23.  This insightful play within a play within a play contains strong language and runs 75 minutes with no intermission.  Click here for more information and for tickets.

The poorest congressional district in the nation is within the Bronx. One teacher embarks on a dubious journey to teach 27 tenth graders and quickly wonders if she may be in over her head.  Valyn Lyric Turner, starring in this one person production, takes on this insurmountable challenge and rises to the challenge with grace, wit, humor, and integrity.

Narrated by Turner as Custodian Baron with a twinkle in her eye, Turner embodies a wide range of animated characters from youthful to the elderly in innovative and brilliant ways capturing distinct mannerisms, posture, tics, accents, diction as well as various expressions and languages.  In a performance that might have come off bumpy and awkward, Turner’s shrewd solo performance is engaging and lively with each character uniquely and astutely personified through smooth and fascinating transitions. 

Turner as Janitor Baron speaks directly to the audience with sage musings and historical knowledge of the Bronx school Baron has cleaned since 1958 while sharing the story of aspiring theatre teacher Miss Sun.  In a tailored shirt and dark pants, Jose, Miss Sun, Jerome, Miss Kennedy, Miss Tam, Chris, and Janitor Baron are only a small portion of the dynamic characters Turner masterfully delivers in swift succession with finesse and unmitigated charm.  Not only exacting accents from southern to Jamaican at times within the same breath, but taking it one step further by occasionally correcting pronunciations in character from one character to another.  It is extraordinary to see Turner accomplish this amazing solo acting feat within this inspiring and absorbing tale.

Hazy windows, a weathered light fixture, an uncovered beige radiator and a water stained linoleum floor punctuated by two red steel classroom chairs at center stage detail Christina Todesco’s intricate scenic design.  Sound designer Jacques Matellus conveys the production’s surroundings through the show’s atmospheric sound design which includes a metal detector, a moving train and the authentic sounding class bell.

One of the many highlights of this production is it radiates not only what it is like to be a teacher in a challenging classroom, but unveils a number of significant perspectives including, as Custodian Baron states, what these “academically challenged” students are like facing fears, apprehension, frustration, lowered expectations and for some, an embattled home life. 

A humorous, timely, poignant, educational and inspiring journey, No Child remarkably explores the distractions, sacrifices and challenges that even the most patient teachers face and the power of every victory in the classroom and beyond.    

Gloucester Stage continues Nilaja Sun’s semi-autobiographical No Child, a one person production continuing live and in person at Gloucester Stage Company in Gloucester, Massachusetts through Saturday, August 23.  Click here for more information and for tickets.