Nilaja Sun (born Nilaja Sun Gordon) is an actress, playwright, and a teaching artist from the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Sun has taught theatre in New York City public schools since 1998 and is best known for her award-winning one-person play, ''No Child...'' She is half Puerto Rican and half African-American.

Career

Sun has featured in TV shows and movies, including The Bourne Legacy (2012), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2004–2006), and

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', takes ...

(2008–2012). Her most famous work, ''No Child...'', follows the story of Miss Sun, a visiting teacher in a 10th grade classroom at Malcolm X High School in the Bronx. The one-person play includes 16 characters, a mixture of students, teachers, and administration. The play was created by Sun based on her eight-year experience with arts education in New York City schools, including at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. The story is narrated by the school's longtime janitor and follows the character's ups and downs as Miss Sun directs them in the performance of Timberlake Wertenbaker's 1988 play ''Our Country's Good,'' which in turn tells an 18th-century story of a British lieutenant directing a group of Australian convicts in the production of George Farquhar's 1706 comedy ''The Recruiting Officer''. Through the play, Sun wants to shows how the school system is breaking and ultimately hopes to capture the life and love that exists in schools. ''No Child...'' is filled with humor, but representative of the experiences of children and teachers in under-resourced public schools across the United States. As of 2012, Sun has performed ''No Child...'' 700 times worldwide. The play's title alludes to President George W. Bush's

No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...

. Sun has stated that the show is not a direct indictment on the act, but a spotlight on great teachers. Sun chose this title in hopes that the audience would make a connection to education and able finish the phrase ''No Child...'' with what the play meant to them. ''No Child...'' was funded by a grant from the

New York State Council on the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell (1905–1996), ...

and from a commission by th
Epic Theatre Ensemble
formerly known as Epic Theater Center. Sun has worked closely with the ensemble for five years and produced nearly 20 of Epic's “Journeys” Programs and participated in Epic's Off-Broadway productions of ''Einstein's Gift'', ''Pieces of the Throne'' and ''Time and the Conways''. Through Epic's “Journeys” Programs Epic artists work closely with students in English, History, and Economics classrooms to analyze a play, rewrite their own version, and perform it alongside professional actors. Sun also teaches writing workshops at New York City's

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under in size, but has ...

jail complex. Sun was featured in the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

's Working in the Theatre series o
solo performance
in 2017.IMDB
"Working in the Theatre: Solo Performance"
August 24th, 2017.

Awards and honors

Sun's work has garnered critical acclaim and a total of 21 awards, including the

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

, the

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...

, and the soloNOVA Award for Artist of the Year by terraNOVA Collective. Sun's play “No Child...” was also named the Best One-Person Show at the

U.S. Comedy Arts Festival The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component calle ...

in Aspen and received two

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

s for Outstanding Solo Performance and for Outstanding New American Play. Other awards include: * Princess Grace Award * Theatre World Award * Helen Hayes Award * two NAACP Theatre Awards

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Nilaja Sun
at

Internet Off-Broadway Database The Internet Off-Broadway Database (IOBDB), also formerly known as the Lortel Archives, is an online database that catalogues theatre productions shown off-Broadway. The IOBDB was funded and developed by the non-profit Lucille Lortel Foundation ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Nilaja Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American television actresses American film actresses Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Theatre World Award winners 21st-century American women