Special Performance Held Of Nilaja Sun's NO CHILD, Benefits Playhouse Education Programs 1/30/2010

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to present a one-night only presentation of No Child..., written and performed by Nilaja Sun, on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 7:00 pm in the Mandell Weiss Theatre. Proceeds from the event will benefit La Jolla Playhouse's education and outreach programs. The Playhouse will also host a VIP reception with Ms. Sun following the performance.

The evening will also celebrate The Playhouse's award-winning education and outreach programs, such as the Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour, the Young Performers Workshop, student matinees, among others. As part of the event, The Playhouse will recognize 25 local teachers who have participated in these programs, in celebration of their efforts in the classroom and their ongoing partnership with The Playhouse throughout the year.

No Child... is a tour-de-force exploration of the New York City public school system performed by acclaimed actress Nilaja Sun. Inspired by her experiences as a teaching artist, Sun fearlessly transforms with rapid-fire precision into the teachers, students, parents, administrators, janitors and security guards who inhabit our schools and shape the future of America. An insightful, hilarious and touching piece created in response to "No Child Left Behind," this exciting new work highlights how one determined woman can change the lives of countless others and expose the inequity of the American public school system.

In 2007, the off-Broadway production of No Child...won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance; the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Production; the Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding New American Play and Outstanding Solo Performance; the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Award for Best One-Person Show; and the Theater World Award for Best Debut Performance. Variety called No Child... "Theatrically riveting...it's enough to make the angels weak to watch this caring, committed performance artist recreate her experiences... Every kid deserves a teacher like Nilaja Sun." The New York Times called it a "simply marvelous performance" while the Chicago Tribune raved: "Superbly performed and thoroughly gripping."

Tickets to No Child... are $40 for general seating and $100 for VIP seating (includes performance and reception). All tickets may be purchased by calling the Box Office at (858) 505-1010; general tickets may also be purchased online at www.lajollaplayhouse.org. All proceeds benefit La Jolla Playhouse's education and outreach programs.

Nilaja Sun is the solo writer and performer of the off-Broadway smash No Child..., for which she garnered a Lucille Lortel Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Theatre World Award, an Obie Award, the John Gassner Playwrighting Award and was named the Best One-Person Show at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Over the 2007-2008 season, Sun toured No Child...to several regional theatres including the Lookingglass Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, Center Theatre Group and Berkeley Repertory Theatre; these national engagements earned her both the IRNE Award for Best Solo Performer and the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. In her long-term relationship with Epic Theatre Center, Nilaja has appeared in No Child..., Einstein's Gift, Pieces of the Throne, Time and the Conways; she was also named the first Artistic Associate of Epic Theatre. Other New York credits include Huck and Holden (Cherry Lane Theatre), The Cook (Intar), The Adventures of Barrio Grrrl! (Summer Play Festival), and Law and Order: SVU. She will make her film debut as Detective Gloria Hubbard in the upcoming feature The International with Naomi Watts and Clive Owen. As a solo performer, Nilaja's projects include critically acclaimed Blues for a Gray Sun (INTAR), La Nubia Latina, Black and Blue, Insufficient Fare, Due to the Tragic Events of... and Mixtures. A native of the Lower East Side, she is a Princess Grace Award winner and has worked as a teaching artist in NYC for eight years.

The Education and Outreach Department of La Jolla Playhouse, in close collaboration with the Artistic Department, creates an appetite for the work of The Playhouse by providing an aesthetic vocabulary and theatre experiences that enable the uninitiated to crave challenging and adventuresome theatre. The department strives to provide educational opportunities that will deepen the relationship with existing patrons and encourage both adult and young audiences to attend the productions with a heightened awareness and understanding of the theatrical process as well as the issues presented by the work. Through programs such as the annual Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour, student matinees, Young Performers Workshop, teacher training, internships, as well as a host of audience enrichment programs, The Playhouse directly impacts more than 40,000 children and adults each year by enhancing the work on our stage and positioning the institution as essential to the cultural well being of the San Diego community and the American theatre.

The nationlly acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who's Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Dracula, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations and Memphis. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

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