All Of It: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play 'English' Heads to Broadway
Host: Alison Stewart
Guests:
- Sanaz Tusi – Playwright of English
- Marjan Neshat – Actress playing Marjane
- Tala Ash – Actress playing Elham
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Air Time: Weekdays from 12:00 - 2:00 PM on WNYC
Introduction to English
Alison Stewart introduces the episode by spotlighting English, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play now gracing Broadway since January 2022. The play delves into the complexities of language acquisition and its profound impact on personal identity. Set in an Iranian town, English follows four students preparing for the TOEFL exam, each with unique motivations and relationships with the English language.
Key Characters:
- Roya: The eldest, planning to relocate to Canada with her son.
- Guli: A teenager without immediate plans.
- Omid: Displays near-native proficiency in English.
- Elham: Aspiring to enter a competitive medical program in Australia, contingent on passing the TOEFL.
- Marjane: The class teacher with a tumultuous relationship with English.
Timestamp: [00:37]
Playwright Sanaz Tusi on Broadway Debut
Sanaz Tusi reflects on the journey from the play's Off-Broadway debut to its Broadway success. She describes the initial uncertainty during the Off-Broadway run, highlighting extensive rewrites and the transformative moment during the first preview when the team realized the play's potential.
"We really didn't know that until up until our very first audience. And then we found the play and the play became ours."
— Sanaz Tusi [02:04]
Tusi expresses a mix of dizziness and terror at seeing her work on Broadway but emphasizes the joy and fulfillment in sharing the play with a broader audience.
Actors' Experiences: Marjan Neshat and Tala Ash
Marjan Neshat discusses her debut in English alongside Tala Ash, emphasizing the surreal experience of performing on Broadway. She speaks to the deep belief in the play's message of transformation and empathy, and the significance of presenting it to larger audiences.
"Being able to put that in front of, you know, 700 people a night is incredible."
— Marjan Neshat [04:30]
Tala Ash shares her amazement at realizing her Broadway dreams through English. She describes the play as a seemingly impossible dream come true, highlighting the intimacy and beauty of the work.
"To be on Broadway in a play that I love, with a cast that I love... feels like kind of impossible."
— Tala Ash [02:57]
Character Dynamics: Marjan and Elham
The conversation delves into the intricate relationship between the teacher, Marjan, and the student, Elham. Sanaz Tusi explains that these two characters were the first to develop in the script, embodying the central conflict of language as both a tool for transformation and a source of trauma linked to identity.
"Language can be transformative... but it can also be traumatic to leave language behind because language is tied to identity."
— Sanaz Tusi [04:41]
Marjan Neshat elaborates on Elham's righteous anger, rooted in her struggles with English and the barriers it presents to her aspirations. She connects Elham's frustration to the broader socioeconomic and political context of Iran in 2008.
"Elham is struggling with this language immensely... she feels like an idiot. That is incredibly demoralizing and angering."
— Marjan Neshat [06:44]
Tala Ash discusses Elham's antagonistic stance towards Omid, another student, attributing her anger to the compounded frustrations of linguistic challenges and personal expectations.
"Elham represents all of that incarnate. She feels like an idiot when she struggles with English."
— Marjan Neshat [12:07]
Bilingual Performance and Humorous Elements
The play employs a unique bilingual approach: characters converse in fluent Farsi when speaking among themselves and switch to accented English during English class interactions. This structure mirrors the characters' internal and external conflicts with language.
Sanaz Tusi explains the rationale behind this choice, drawing from her bilingual upbringing. She likens it to classic literary devices where language differences signify cultural and personal divides.
"I knew, like, I've always known what it meant to be at ease in one language and in discomfort in another."
— Sanaz Tusi [13:43]
When discussing humor, both Marjan Neshat and Tala Ash emphasize the importance of avoiding making accents a punchline. Instead, humor arises organically from the characters' genuine attempts to communicate, highlighting the awkward and endearing moments of language learning.
"You can't ask for the laugh, and you can't, like, make a meal of it. You just have to be trying to communicate."
— Tala Ash [15:08]
Marjan adds a meta-layer by addressing audience reactions to linguistic humor, underscoring the emotional weight behind the laughs.
"There's one laugh I'm thinking of in the play that happens at my expense, and the audience just roars... it's like, what are you really laughing at?"
— Marjan Neshat [15:54]
Final Scene: Speaking Farsi on Stage
A pivotal moment in the play features a final exchange entirely in Farsi, leaving the audience to grapple with its meaning without translations. Sanaz Tusi defends this choice, arguing that it immerses the audience in the characters' linguistic and emotional landscapes, mirroring their feelings of exclusion and longing.
"If you for 30 seconds cannot stand the discomfort of not understanding what people are saying, then I think you missed the whole play."
— Sanaz Tusi [17:19]
Marjan Neshat and Tala Ash describe the emotional intensity of delivering lines in Farsi, emphasizing the vulnerability and connection it fosters between characters and the audience.
"We're just trying not to fall apart, I think, every night."
— Marjan Neshat [18:32]
Conclusion: The Power of Language and Community
Alison Stewart wraps up the discussion by reiterating the play’s themes of language, identity, and the immigrant experience. She highlights the collaborative effort of the cast and playwright in bringing English to life on Broadway, celebrating its success and the profound conversations it sparks among diverse audiences.
"The play is about how painful it is to be outside language. So if you for 30 seconds cannot stand the discomfort... then you missed the whole play."
— Sanaz Tusi [17:19]
English continues its Broadway run through March 2nd, offering audiences a thought-provoking exploration of language's role in shaping and challenging personal and cultural identities.
Key Quotes
- Sanaz Tusi [02:04]: "We really didn't know that until up until our very first audience. And then we found the play and the play became ours."
- Tala Ash [02:57]: "To be on Broadway in a play that I love, with a cast that I love... feels like kind of impossible."
- Marjan Neshat [04:30]: "Being able to put that in front of, you know, 700 people a night is incredible."
- Sanaz Tusi [13:43]: "I've always known what it meant to be at ease in one language and in discomfort in another."
- Marjan Neshat [15:54]: "It's like, what are you really laughing at?"
- Sanaz Tusi [17:19]: "If you for 30 seconds cannot stand the discomfort of not understanding what people are saying, then I think you missed the whole play."
English exemplifies how theater can mirror societal issues, fostering empathy and understanding through the nuanced portrayal of language and its impact on human connections. The collaborative spirit of its creators and performers underscores the vibrant cultural dialogue that All Of It aims to promote.