It’s not often we get to experience a Pulitzer Prize-winning play here in the Midwest, so grab the chance to see English by Sanaz Toossi at the IRT before it closes April 4. It is a rich exploration of how language and identity converge and conflict. The play won the Pulitzer for Drama in 2023.
The play involves four Iranian students studying English in preparation for a test just outside Tehran, Iran in 2008. The teacher, Marjan (Neagheen Homaifar), does not allow them to speak Farsi in class — only English. Roya (Leyla Modirzadeh) struggles, confessing she only wants to learn English to speak with her Canadian grandchild on the phone. Elham (Natasha Behnam) and Goli (Emelia Maryam Mosay) are learning the language to open up new opportunities for themselves. Omid (Revon Yousif) says he wants to study English to get a green card. The exercises, the drills, and awkward show-and-tell games used as learning tools are innovative, but also frustrating. They begin to question how much of their Iranian identities they will have to give up as they learn how to think in a different language, and how much their heritage means to them. The premise sounds serious, but there is certainly humor in English through misunderstandings and outbursts of frustration.
Director Azar Kazemi brings to light the excitement and conflict of learning a new language, and the fear students feel that they are letting go of something important. This is a deeply moving and complex play that speaks (sorry) to our yearning to belong, but also to change.
Tickets start at $27 and are available online at irtlive.com or by calling the box office at 317-635-5252.
