Pulitzer Prize-winning Play 'English' Returns for a Broadway Run

Summary

Detailed Summary of WNYC’s "All Of It" Podcast Episode: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play 'English' Returns for a Broadway Run

Episode Release Date: February 19, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of ALL OF IT, host Alison Stewart delves into the Broadway revival of "English," a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Sanaz Toosi. Broadcasted by WNYC and supported by Progressive Insurance, the episode features insightful conversations with playwright Sanaz Toosi and original cast members Marjane Neshat and Tala Ashi. The discussion provides a comprehensive look into the play’s themes, character dynamics, and the experiences of bringing it to a Broadway audience.

Overview of the Play "English"

"English" is a poignant exploration of language and identity set in an Iranian town. The narrative revolves around an English class preparing for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). The class comprises four diverse students:

• Roya: The eldest student planning to emigrate to Canada with her family.
• Guli: The youngest, a teenager without immediate future plans.
• Omed: Demonstrates near-native proficiency in English.
• Elam: Ambitious and determined, Elam is accepted into a competitive medical program in Australia contingent upon passing the TOEFL—a test she has attempted five times.

At the helm is their teacher, Marjane, portrayed by Marjane Neshat, whose complex relationship with the English language forms the emotional core of the play. Through these characters, the play interrogates how language can both transform and fracture personal identity.

Broadway Production Details

The Broadway production of "English" runs until March 2, 2025, at the Todd Haimes Theatre. Featuring the original cast, this revival amplifies the play’s impact, bringing it to a broader and more diverse audience. Alison Stewart highlights the transition from off-Broadway to Broadway, emphasizing the play’s continued relevance and the original cast’s dedication.

Insights from Playwright Sanaz Toosi

Sanaz Toosi shares her journey from the play’s inception to its Pulitzer acclaim and Broadway debut:

“When we did this play off Broadway in 2022, it was my first production ever. I had no idea what I was doing. [...] And then we found the play and the play became ours. And so to have it be on Broadway is really dizzying. But it was terrifying at first.”
[Sanaz Toosi, 01:59]

Toosi reflects on the extensive rewrites and the transformative realization of having a cohesive play during their first preview. The move to Broadway, while exhilarating, also brings a sense of vulnerability and the challenge of maintaining the play’s original magic on a larger stage.

Actor Experiences: Marjane Neshat and Tala Ashi

Marjane Neshat discusses her debut in "English":

“For me, it felt like impossible. Like, for me, it felt like impossible. And so it's kind of a dream.”
[Marjane Neshat, 02:52]

Neshat expresses her elation and disbelief at realizing her Broadway dreams through a play she deeply loves, highlighting the intimate and profound nature of the work.

Tala Ashi shares her perspective on performing in a Broadway production:

“We always say, you know, kids dream about being on Broadway, but this specific confluence of events that brought us here is so special. [...] Being able to put that in front of, you know, 700 people a night is incredible.”
[Tala Ashi, 03:26]

Ashi emphasizes the importance of approaching her role with a beginner’s mindset despite her extensive acting experience. She underscores the play’s themes of transformation and empathy, appreciating the opportunity to share its powerful message with a larger audience.

Exploring Themes and Character Dynamics

The play intricately examines the interplay between language and identity, particularly through the characters of Marjane and Elham.

Sanaz Toosi elaborates on the contrasting motivations of these characters:

“The conflict of the play really lives between the two of them. This idea that language can be, you know, learning a new language can be transformative [...] And then Elham represents, you know, the other side of that, which is it's actually can be traumatic to leave language behind because language is tied to identity.”
[Sanaz Toosi, 04:37]

The antagonistic relationship between Marjane and Elham highlights the tension between embracing a new language for personal growth and the pain of leaving one’s native language, which is deeply intertwined with identity.

Elham's Struggles and Anger

Tala Ashi delves into Elham's emotional turmoil:

“A young, ambitious, tenacious woman would feel not only angry, but would then, you know, want to pursue higher education elsewhere, but feel very frustrated that English is the barrier to entry [...] she feels, she says in the play, I feel like an idiot. That is incredibly demoralizing and angering.”
[Tala Ashi, 06:40]

Elham’s righteous anger stems from repeated failures to pass the TOEFL, undermining her self-esteem and thwarting her aspirations. This frustration is compounded by the sociopolitical context of Iran in 2008, adding layers to her character’s emotional landscape.

Production Choices and Techniques

One of the notable production choices in "English" is the use of accents during English-speaking scenes:

“When the characters are speaking Farsi in the play, the actors actually speak fluent English, but when the characters are learning and speaking English, the actors speak with accents. It takes everybody a minute at the beginning. You're like, wait a minute. [...] it was just important, you know, for us to give.”
[Sanaz Toosi, 13:18]

This bilingual approach enhances authenticity, reflecting the characters’ internal struggles with language proficiency. It also allows the audience to viscerally experience the discomfort and challenges faced by non-native English speakers.

Humor and Communication

Balancing humor without making accents a punchline is a delicate task addressed by the cast:

“We have a really brilliant director who, from the day one, was like, 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.”
[Marjane Neshat, 15:04]

The actors aim to portray genuine attempts at communication, letting humor arise naturally from the situations rather than relying on stereotypes or mockery.

Audience Reactions and Interpretation

The play’s conclusion, featuring a final exchange in Farsi without subtitles, is a deliberate choice to immerse the audience in the characters' emotional experiences:

“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 Toosi, 16:52]

Toosi encourages the audience to embrace the play's linguistic barriers, emphasizing that discomfort is integral to fully grasping the characters' struggles and the play’s overarching themes.

Conclusion

This episode of ALL OF IT offers a profound exploration of "English" as it makes its Broadway debut. Through in-depth discussions with Sanaz Toosi and the original cast, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the play’s intricate examination of language, identity, and the human condition. The thoughtful production choices and authentic performances underscore the play’s critical acclaim and its enduring relevance in contemporary theatre.

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Notable Quotes:

• Sanaz Toosi on recognizing the play’s potential: “[...] we understood finally that we had a play.” [01:59]
• Marjane Neshat on her Broadway debut: “For me, it felt like impossible. [...] it's kind of a dream.” [02:52]
• Tala Ashi on Elham’s righteous anger: “...she feels, she says in the play, I feel like an idiot. That is incredibly demoralizing and angering.” [06:40]
• Sanaz Toosi on language as transformation vs. identity: “The conflict of the play really lives between the two of them. [...] learning a new language can be transformative.” [04:37]
• Sanaz Toosi on the use of accents: “[...] it was just important, you know, for us to give.” [13:38]

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This summary encapsulates the essence of the podcast episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened while preserving the depth and nuances of the original discussion.

Transcript

[Progressive Insurance]

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[WNYC Studios]

Listener supported WNYC Studios.

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of It. I'm Alison Stewart. The Pulitzer Prize winning play English explores how the language we can how language we speak can shape the person we are, how that person can change from one language to another. And now it's on Broadway until March 2nd. English centers on an English class in an Iranian town. The four students are preparing to take the test of English as a foreign Language, AKA the toefl. Each character has a very different reason for being in the class and a very different relationship with the English language. The oldest, Roya, plans to move to Canada with her son and his family. The youngest of the group, a teenager named Guli, doesn't have an immediate plan. In the middle are Omed, who seems to have a near native proficiency, and then Elam, who is accepted into a competitive medical program in Australia, but only if she passes the toefl, which she's already taken five times. At the head of the class, their teacher, Marjane, who has a complicated relationship with the language. Marjan is played by actor Marjane Neshat. Elim is played by Tala Ashi. And they joined me in studio earlier this year alongside playwright Sanaz Tosi, who was with us by Zoom. English is now running on Broadway with its entire original cast running through March 2nd. I started by acting Sana asking Sanaz about how her play winning a Pulitzer Prize affected her frame of mind going into the Broadway production.

[Sanaz Toosi]

You know, when we did this play off Broadway in 2022, it was my first production ever. I had no idea what I was doing. And we did really extensive rewrites on the play like those, you know, Marijan and Tatl can tell you they were getting new pages every day, every night. And when we did it, when we got our first preview, we understood finally that we had a play. And we really didn't know that until up until our very first audience. And then we found the play and the play became ours. And so to have it be on Broadway is really dizzying. But it was terrifying at first. I loved our run off Broadway so much, but I don't know, I just keep saying, like, we should be here and we are here. So we're just trying to enjoy it.

[Marjan Neshat]

Rajan how's it felt to make your debut in this show?

[WNYC Studios]

It's a really amazing experience. You know, I was talking to someone about the fact that, of course, I, as an actor, dreamed of being on Broadway, but to be on Broadway in a play that I love, with a cast that I love, to actually get to be on Broadway and do intimate, funny, interesting, beautiful work feels like kind of impossible. Like, for me, it felt like impossible. And so it's kind of a dream.

[Marjan Neshat]

Tala, for you, what do you know about being on Broadway that you didn't know before?

[Tala Ash]

Everything. You know, it's. We always say, you know, kids dream about being on Broadway, but this specific confluence of events that brought us here is so special. And, you know, I think it's been really important for me to try to show up for it and really kind of have a beginner's mind to it, because I am indeed a beginner in this, even though I have been acting for a long time, and even though, as Sanaz mentioned, it was kind of terrifying to think about bringing it back to the world when we had such a magical experience the first time. I think what has been so sustaining for me and gratifying for me is that we get to share it with more people. And all of us believe so deeply in what the play has to say and its power of transformation and empathy. And so just being able to put that in front of, you know, 700 people a night is incredible.

[Marjan Neshat]

Sanaz, the class has four students, each different age, different backgrounds. Which character came first to you and which character came last?

[Sanaz Toosi]

It's so funny. The two characters who have always were the first on the page were Marijan and Elham. And I think, you know, there are two, you know, the conflict of the play really lives between the two of them. This idea that language can be, you know, learning a new language can be transformative, and we can be who we want to be through language. And then Elham represents, you know, the other side of that, which is it's actually can be traumatic to leave language behind because language is tied to identity.

[Marjan Neshat]

Marjane and Elham, they have a. I don't want to say it's an antagonistic relationship, but, boy, they push each other's buttons.

[Tala Ash]

You should say antagonistic. Antagonistic.

[Sanaz Toosi]

You can say it.

[Marjan Neshat]

Marjan. Why do they have so much trouble connecting?

[WNYC Studios]

You know, I think that especially in this production, because I think we started with a trust of the play, and it instantly sort of went deeper. I think that it really doesn't start out that way. And I think by the end, I think she's more of a foil for me than I realize in terms of, you know, I think they were both at the top of their class. And I think that she is this bright woman with so much possibility, and I see part of myself in her, but I feel like my methodology just does not. Is just not met. And I think all of these attempts kind of coincide with my character's losing of something of her own. And so I think it's just she has lived so much in teaching and like all of her hopes and dreams have sort of boiled down to this way of offering this to her students. And I think as the play goes on and as the offer is just either not well met or rejected or misunderstood, it starts to question the way that she's doing things.

[Marjan Neshat]

Why is Elham so mad? She's really mad.

[Tala Ash]

Oh, Alison. She has such righteous anger. Sanaz and I talk about this righteous anger. This isn't in the play. But knowing what I know about Iran in 2008, which is when the play is set, the socioeconomic situation, the political situation, it makes so much sense to me that a young, ambitious, tenacious woman would feel not only angry, but would then, you know, want to pursue higher education elsewhere, but feel very frustrated that English is the barrier to entry and this exam is the barrier to entry. She has failed it. She is used to being the best person in the class. And then she's met with this teacher who, as Marjan said, they kind of keep unintentionally missing each other in terms of communication. And the pedagogy does not work for Elham often to. And she's not good at English. And that is really frustrating for someone who is usually very good at things to be bad. Not only bad, but to feel like she is not herself and that she feels, she says in the play, I feel like an idiot. That is incredibly demoralizing and angering. I think the first emotion she goes to is anger, which, as we all know under that is great sadness. But yes, often to great comic and humiliating effect, we see her struggling with this language immensely.

[Marjan Neshat]

The Pulitzer Prize winning play English, about a class in Iran learning English as a second language, is now on Broadway. I'm speaking to his playwright, Sanuz Tosi, and stars Tala Ash and Marjan Neshat. It runs through March 2. In English, Marjane plays the class teacher.

[Unnamed Actor]

Who'S also named Marjane Sanouz.

[Marjan Neshat]

Last time you were on the show, you told us you always wanted her.

[Unnamed Actor]

Marjane, to be in it.

[Marjan Neshat]

Why did you know Marjane would be right for this role?

[Sanaz Toosi]

Oh, I mean, I could talk about this for hours and hours. I've sort of. I've loved Marjane before. We even. She even. We're even friends, which I hear it now and I know that sounds really crazy, but we have like, I think we're after the same mystery. I think we like, you know, she loves Chekhov more than anyone. And I also love Chekhov, but I think we just love what language can't hold. I think we're all. And maybe this is because we're Iranian. We're obsessed with this, with yearning and longing, which feels, I don't know, which is about romantic and which is about romance, but also things that have been so. I think we've always been. We've shared obsessions and we've. We want to capture. We. We want. Have always wanted to capture that in art.

[Marjan Neshat]

Marjane tells the class, I always liked myself better in English. And when you were on the show in 2002, you said you pushed back on that line.

[WNYC Studios]

Oh my God, a little bit. I. So part of what I love so much about Sanaz is that we can love each other and really fight it out. You fight it out. Exactly. And I feel like when we fight it out, we get even closer. There were so many times in all of her sort of rigorous rewriting, she would text me that night. She's like, I don't know why I was so resistant, but oftentimes the things that, you know, we double down on it either. She usually ends up being right, sometimes I'm right, and then she gives over to me. And sometimes it takes a long time. But when I first read that line, I was like, I can't say this. Like, I don't want to be a, like a self hating Iranian. You know, it was really complicated. And she was like, no, you will say it. And I learned in doing it, like, I learned so much with Marijan that there she is not explainable. And I think that she doesn't. That some of the things that she says, and I think this is. There's so much that comes across with Elham. She picks it up literally. It's not actually literally that. It's like the possibility of things, you know, the potential, the potential that something can unlock that is not so like clearly defined. And so I think it was in living in the sort of in between that I found that character. And so I think she was right because the reaction it gets, it definitely makes people judge her one way or another. But I think the play also shows so many different facets of her that hopefully by the end, you realize it's not just one thing, that it's not. She just, like, hates everything else, you know, like, people keep accusing her, and I'm like, that's not it. But I'm doing something specific here in this class. Class. It's not all of me. And so she was right, as usual.

[Marjan Neshat]

Let's talk about Omid a little bit. Tala. Elim is not a fan of Omid's. He's nearly proficient. She gets so mad, she puts little devil horns around his name on a whiteboard. Where does Elim's anger toward Ahmed come from? And do you think she's right?

[Tala Ash]

Well, I think she has his number early, and that that is proven in the play, that in fact, she is right.

[WNYC Studios]

The.

[Tala Ash]

The vindication is unfortunately not very sweet by that point. Is she right? The anger, again, I think this sort of goes back to her resentment of English. And, you know, when the revelation comes out about Omid and what his backstory actually is, I think it awakens in her again, this sort of. This resentment that she has to learn this language that, you know, I think it's like 15% of the world speaks, but 75% of those people are speaking English as a second language. So she resents that she has to leave her country and say goodbye. Like, when I think about what Elham is really struggling with, and to go back to your initial question about anger, to have to say goodbye to your country that you love and this language that you love, that is angering and a real heartbreak for her. And somehow Omid becomes the representation of all of that incarnate Sanaz.

[Unnamed Actor]

When the characters are speaking Farsi in the play, the actors actually speak fluent English, but when the characters are learning and speaking English, the actors speak with accents. It takes everybody a minute at the beginning. You're like, wait a minute.

[Marjan Neshat]

I know what's going on.

[Unnamed Actor]

And it's genius. First of all, why did this make sense to you as a structure?

[Sanaz Toosi]

Well, it made a lot of intuitive sense to me because I grew up bilingual. I grew up speaking to. I grew up speaking Farsi in the house, English outside the house. So I knew, like, I've always known what it. I've. What it meant to be at ease in one language and in discomfort in another. So. And also, like, I. You know, you watch Anna Karenina, and they're speaking in British accents, and so you intuitively understand that those people would Be speaking Russian, but they're not. So this was a device I had always, in some way known, had predated this play, obviously, but it was just important, you know, for us to give. The play is called English. You get to hear. You get interiority to these characters. And. Yeah, so that's why we did that.

[Unnamed Actor]

You know, there are funny moments that come from some of the stilted conversations that you get in English classes. Like, one conversation begins with, hello, what is your favorite color?

[Tala Ash]

That's me.

[Unnamed Actor]

So anybody could answer this. How did you approach finding humor in the way the characters speak to each other without making their accents a punchline? Who wants to take that? You want to take it, Marjan?

[WNYC Studios]

I mean, you know, I think we have a really brilliant director who, from the. From day one, was like, 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. And so I feel like, you know, I don't have the thickest accent. So, you know, I think Tala and Puyo, in that conversation could speak better to it. But I think the approach always was that they're really trying to have a conversation and they're trying to communicate. And, you know, when you're trying to do something that is not easy for you, things get communicated. But that the insistence was always on that and not to make it a joke and not to make fun of them in any way, but really push that through.

[Tala Ash]

And then there are moments that are funny because it is funny and accents are funny. And yet I think what the play does so cleverly is there's one laugh I'm thinking of in the play that happens at my expense, and the audience just roars. That's something that Elham says. And I, as the actor, am feeling not only the humiliation of the moment in the classroom, but I'm feeling the humiliation of being laughed at by the audience. And what happens in that next moment for Elham is a sort of, you know, tiny little breakdown. And I think there is a kind of implication that it puts on the audience of, like, what? So, sorry, what are you laughing at? Exactly? And, you know, yes, accents are funny, but, like, what are you really laughing at?

[Marjan Neshat]

The final exchange in the play, Sanaz, is between Ilham and Marjan, and it's spoken in Farsi. Why did that make sense to you?

[Sanaz Toosi]

Yeah, I love this question. Because it is not rare that after the show, audience members will come up to me and either just sort of explicitly demand that subtitles should have been.

[Marjan Neshat]

Shown or really I'd have a conversation with them.

[Sanaz Toosi]

I think, well, anyway, I can't have that conversation with them. I get too prickly about it because I think if we have our runtime is, I think, like, whatever, let's say an hour 40. We have given American, let's just like to say generally monolingual audiences. We have translated this play for you. This play is for English speaking audiences in many ways. So we gave you an hour and 39 minutes of interiority, of access. And this play is about how painful it is to be outside language. So if you, for 30 seconds, cannot stand the discomfort of not understanding what people are saying, then I think you missed the whole play. And that's why, like, do not come to me, up to me after the play and ask for that, because I will. I think you weren't with us.

[Marjan Neshat]

The whole thing is the audience is. You're left wondering, which puts you in the minds of the people who. The characters in the play. You're like, oh, I understand.

[Tala Ash]

You got it, Allison.

[Marjan Neshat]

What's that like for you, that moment on stage where you get to speak Farsi?

[Tala Ash]

Oh, my God. We're just trying not to fall apart, I think, every night, every afternoon, every night.

[WNYC Studios]

I mean, I will say, I think, you know, in this rendition, there's also a layer of, I think, acceptance and kindness that comes. That passes between our characters. And I think on some level, I chalk that up to growth as human beings. I chalk it up to, you know, the Zanzendagi aza. Just like we've all lived through so much of what has happened to our people, and so the desire to connect, I think, is even higher. But there's an understanding. And I think when we face each other and we. I think it feels like I look in her eyes and it's like it's just somehow like it's like I'm being unzipped.

[Tala Ash]

And what we're talking about is the experience is a person that is leaving the country talking to a person who left the country and came back. And it's all impossible and it's all frustrating, and it's not the ideal for anyone.

[Alison Stewart]

That was playwright Sanuz Toosi and stars Talia Ash and Marjan Neshat speaking about the Broadway debut of the Pulitzer Prize play English. It's running through March 2nd. The show is at the Todd Haimes Theatre.

[Progressive Insurance]

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[Tala Ash]

Or.