NO CHILD...
No Child...
Written by Nilaja Sun
Directed by Regina Renée Russell
March 28 - April 16, 2023
What do you get when you attempt to have a group of high school students in the Bronx put on the play Our Country’s Good? Some groans, class skipping, and one teacher’s determination to make the impossible possible. A tour-de-force solo performance that sees one actor transform themselves with rapid-fire precision into all 16 characters, No Child… is a powerful and touching story for anyone concerned about the state of our education system and how we might fix it.
70 minutes performed without an intermission
Recommended for ages 14+
NAME YOUR PRICE PREVIEW PERFORMANCES
Tuesday, March 28 through Thursday, March 30 at 7:30 PM
OPENING NIGHT
Friday, March 31 at 8 PM
ACTOR'S FORUM
Friday, April 7 at 8 PM
Friday, April 14 at 8 PM
BIPOC COMMUNITY NIGHT
Saturday, April 8 at 8 PM
No Child... is presented with support from:
In Community Partnership with Community Unity Music Education Program (CUMEP)
Cast
KATYA COLLAZO* (Performer) is thrilled to be making her KTC debut! She is a Puerto Rican actress based in New York City. Off Broadway: Mrs. Warren’s Profession (U/S for Mrs. Warren & Vivie Warren); Regional theater: Nina Simone: Four Women (Arizona Theatre Company); Possessing Harriet (Franklin Stage Company); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Playhouse on Park); The Resolutes (Wyoming Theater Festival); The Winter’s Tale (South Dakota Shakespeare Festival) Television: Lioness (Upcoming on Paramount+); The Blacklist, Dietland. Katya is currently the voice and spokesperson for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island. Katya worked in Hartford, CT as a teaching artist with Hartford Performs, Hartbeat Ensemble’s Youth Play Institute and Hartbeat’s Startin’ Drama program. Katya also worked as a teaching artist for Hartford Children’s Theater. In New York City, Katya worked as a teaching artist for Naked Angels Theater Company and Young Actors Workshop Brooklyn.
*member, AEA
Creative Team
NILAJA SUN (Playwright) is a teaching artist, writer and performer from New York City's Lower East Side. Sun describes herself as a product of many cultural influences: her mother is Puerto Rican, her biological father is African American, her mother re-married to an Italian man, and her childhood neighborhood contained all of these cultures and more. Sun studied pre-medicine at Franklin & Marshall College and in her senior year, she spent a semester in New York City studying solo performance at La MaMa. After college, Sun waited tables in NYC while pursuing a career in acting. She transitioned out of waitressing when she discovered the joys and rewards of teaching artistry. While working as a teaching artist with Epic Theatre Ensemble, Epic's artistic director Melissa Friedman suggested Sun develop a piece inspired by their students. Supported by a NYSCA grant, Sun created No Child..., which eventually received a full run at the Barrow Street Theatre in NYC, toured all over the country and around the world, and garnered 21 awards. Sun did not produce her next solo piece, Pike Street, for another 8 years. She identifies "invisible New Yorkers" and "service to one another" as common themes across her work. A physical performer at heart, Sun does not view herself as the playwright or "docu-theatre" artist which many perceive her to be. Rather, she says she creates her works based on people and feelings and focuses on living moment to moment in each of her characters.
REGINA RENÉE RUSSELL (Director) is a NYC-based director, actress, diversity and inclusion consultant and writer. Born and raised in the Bronx and a graduate of Cornell University (B.A. Theatre Arts) and East 15 Acting School in London (M.F.A Acting), Regina’s recent directing work includes Tam Lin by Laurel Andersen (Barefoot Shakespeare Company), From the Bath by Maggie Wilson (The Artist Co-op), Julia Caesar (Barefoot Shakespeare Company), and Two Gentlemen of
Verona (BARDCore Match:Lit). Regina proudly serves as Director of Diversity and Inclusion with Barefoot Shakespeare Company.
Upcoming Work: Regina will be directing her self-penned, as-of-yet-untitled reimagining of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing later this year with Barefoot Shakespeare Company in New York City. IG: reggirenee Backstage: regina-renee-russell
STILLER ZUSMAN (Set Designer & Scenic Charge) has been the Scenic Charge at Kitchen Theatre Company since 2018. In 2022 she designed the set for Do You Feel Anger and now gives us her vision for No Child... Stiller began her work in theater, designing and building sets for Buffalo Ensemble Theatre. At that time, she was finishing an MFA in Sculpture at the University of Buffalo. Thirty years later, after several full careers in fine arts, teaching and clinical art therapy, she has returned to scenic work. Her exhibitions include shows at Albright Knox Gallery, where she received the Partners Press Award for Sculpture, Everson Museum, Hall Walls Gallery, Adrianne Adrian Fine Arts and more. Her work appears in private and public collections, including a permanent installation at the University of Wyoming. She has designed many studio workshops for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, taught sculpture at SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College. Her own gallery and teaching studio, Abovoagogo was on Seneca St, around the corner from the theater for many years.
JOEY MORO (Lighting Designer) is a New York based designer who designs lighting, projection, and scenery. Joey has designed over 150 productions in NYC, regionally, and abroad. Recent Lighting: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Choir Boy, (Le Petit Light/Set) Bright Half Life, (Syracuse Drama Light/Set,) The Rape of Lucretia, (Boston Lyric Opera,) Awful Event, (Baryshnikov Arts Center,) Die Fledermaus, Albert Herring (SUNY Stony Brook), Streetcar Named Desire (Le Petit Theatre). Recent projection work: The Wanderers, (Roundabout,) Good Vibrations, (Houston Ballet,) Sunken Cities Exhibit, (Virginia Museum of Fine Art,) 72 Miles to Go… (Roundabout Theatre,) A Bright Room Called Day, (Juilliard,) Skeleton Crew, (Dorset Theatre Fest,) Orange Julius, (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre.) Cornell BA Cum Laude, MFA Yale School of Drama. Joey is an Associate Professor in Live Experience Design at BerkleeNYC, and a guest lecturer at the Yale School of Drama and NYU Tisch. www.joeymoro.com www.moro.media
DELETRIS BRYANT (Sound Designer) is a director, stage manager, and sound designer from the Greater Washington, D.C., Metro Area. A few of their recent credits include: Production Stage Manager for “BANKSY: A New Play” (Dir. Denis Jones), Sound Designer for “Do You Feel Anger” (Kitchen Theatre Company), and Assistant Director for “Moments: An Evening of the Work of Douglas Lyons” (Ithaca College). They are a graduate of Ithaca College School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
JENNIFER SCHILANSKY (Production Stage Manager) is delighted to be returning to the Kitchen Theatre. Jen has been the resident stage manager for the Kitchen Theatre for over 55 main stage productions. KTC favorites include: The Royale, Ironbound, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Mountaintop, Paloma, The Whipping Man, Darian Dauchan's Death Boogie and Brian Dykstra Selling Out. Based in Groton, NY Jen spends most of her time working in Ithaca, NY and spending time with her 1 year old daughter, Maya. Previous work includes PSM for Suessical at SUNY Cortland, Jazz Nutcracker SUNY Binghamton, PSM for The Cherry Arts and their English World Premieres Heading into Night, A Day, Hotel Good Luck, The Fan, and Felt Sad, Posted a Frog. She has also served as the Production Stage Manager for the Hangar Theatre’s Pride and Prejudice, Dégagé, and A Doll’s House Part 2. Prior to moving to Ithaca, she spent five years as the resident stage manager for Stageworks Theater in Hudson, as well as Stage Managing for Half Moon Theater in Poughkeepsie and Bard College. Jen has been an Equity member since 2007 and is a graduate of Lycoming College in Williamsport PA.