Quote of the Day: I think this play is for everyone. Learning a new language creates a new identity, but our identity is also deeply rooted in language. We understand everything around us through language. Director Hamid Dehghani, from his interview with Christine Stevens in the playbill for English by Sanaz Toossi, playing at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN through August 18, 2024. 

Pej Vahdat (Omid), Sahar Bibiyan (Roya), Roxanna Hope Radja (Marjan), Nikki Massoud
(Elham), and Shadee Vossoughi (Goli) in English by Sanaz Toossi. Photo: Liz Lauren

Playwright Sanaz Toossi won the Pulitzer Prize for her play English in 2023. As with most Pulitzer Prize winners, Toossi captures a human experience that examines its complexities and sheds light on it. Language is deeply personal, how we use it, how it defines us, and how it  works, or doesn’t, to provide basic needs and discuss complex ideas. Anyone who has tried to learn a new language can relate to these characters who are taking an English class in 2009 in Karaj, Iran. The purpose of the course is to gain enough knowledge and fluency of the language to pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), and each of the four adult students have their own motivation for being there, including the teacher. 

Their teacher Marjan (Roxanna Hope Radja) loves the English language. She has learned American English and studied in Manchester, England. She has the slightest of accents, more American than British. She insists that they only speak English in her class, but that isn’t always an easy rule to follow. They use all the tools of language learning, music, movies, storytelling. Marjan is a strict, but kind, teacher. The accent that you have when speaking a language is a big part of this play. 

Nikki Massoud (Elham), Shadee Vossoughi (Goli), Pej Vahdat (Omid), Roxanna Hope Radja
(Marjan) in English by Sanaz Toossi. Photo: Liz Lauren

Goli (Shadee Vossoughi) is an 18-year-old young woman who is excited to learn English. She starts off the lesson with a funny explanation about using an eyebrow pencil. She talks about how she feels when speaking English, how it’s different than when she speaks Farsi. Roya (Sahar Bibyan) is the oldest student. Her son has immigrated to Canada. She wants to learn English so she can visit him there and be able to communicate with her granddaughter. She has some beautiful insight on language and how her son expresses himself differently when he speaks English vs. Farsi. She says, “He is softer in Farsi.” Her story is also about her relationship with her son and how they communicate, or don’t, with each other. I also love what she says about names, how people try to change them because they’re hard to say or need to be more Anglicized. Who gets to name you? she asks. A mother gets to name her children. 

Sahar Bibiyan as Roya in English by Sanaz Toossi, at the Guthrie Theater thru 8/18/24. Photo: Liz Lauren

Omid (Pej Vahdat) is the only male in the class, and the most fluent English speaker. It seems like he’s in the class to keep his English language skills fresh, but there might be other motivation, as well. (It’s hard to explain his character without giving too much away.) He and Marjan connect in their love of the language.

Elham (played by Victoria Nassif in the performance I saw, normally played by Nikki Massoud) doesn’t share Omid’s and Marjan’s love of English. In fact, she says more than once that she hates it. She loves her native language, Farsi, and how expressive it is. Also, how easy it is to convey her true emotions, her true self. But, she needs to be proficient in English, to pass that darn TOEFL, in order to further her education in the medical field. She’s feisty and defiant, hard-working and bold. She is a great character to play, and Victoria did a wonderful job of slipping into this role. The entire cast felt so close and confident with each other on stage. 

Pej Vahdat as Omid, Roxanna Hope Radja as Marjan in English by Sanaz Toossi, at the Guthrie Theater thru 8/18/24. Photo: Liz Lauren

I attended this production with my friend Michelle, who has now seen the show four times! When I asked her summary of the play, she said, “It’s all true.” The experiences that Toossi portrays through her characters, their frustrations, joys, relationships, and struggles for understanding are very real. I go back to the quote of the day, how language is at the root of who we are. It’s how we process feelings, explain experiences, and build relationships with each other. This is a beautiful, poignant and powerful play. I hope everyone gets a chance to experience it and has someone they can discuss it with afterwards. 

Pej Vahdat as Omid, Shadee Vossoughi as Goli, Nikki Massoud as Elham, and Roxanna Hope Radja as Marjan in English by Sanaz Toossi, at the Guthrie Theater thru 8/18/24. Photo: Liz Lauren

The set, designed by Courtney O’Neill, looks like a typical classroom, and it has a large window that looks out over the city, and abuts an apartment building. I was fascinated by the use of the large window and the blinds. Sometimes, they were closed. Other times, partially open, all the way open, light might shine through differently, like it’s a different time of day. They even rearranged the desks to give the sense of the classroom taking shape and learning done from a different perspective. I would be interested in going to a post-play discussion to learn about the choices they made for the set. 

Shahrzad Mazaheri designed the costumes, giving a fairly modern feel to the characters while keeping the traditional head coverings. Lighting design by Jason Lynch. Sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman. Hamid Dehghani directed this poignant play that is filled with humor, humanity, drama and heart. I plan to go see it again. All the actions and characters felt so real.

You can see Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize winning play English at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN through August 18, 2024. You can watch an interview with the playwright here, where she talks about her inspiration for the characters and story with Adrien-Alice Hansel on Planet Word. 

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt: Do you speak more than one language? How was your experience learning a new language?