English — Goodman / Guthrie, 2024

My relationship to English began long before I came across the play. Before coming to the United States, I spent three years studying for an English-language exam, believing that learning the language would open the door to freedom and a new life. But as English took over my days, I began to lose touch with theatre, with my community, and even with the person I had been. The only people who fully understood that experience were my classmates—other dreamers whose futures also depended on passing the test. In directing Sanaz Toossi’s play, I drew on that world: the hope and fear, the closeness among classmates, the competition and changing dynamics between them, and the experience of becoming someone who lives between two languages.

“I was frankly knocked out by the quality of the direction, which is exquisitely paced, subtle of idea and formidably communicative.”

“With English, he crafts a staging that’s riveting, wrenching, hopeful, and bursting with humanity.”