(L to R) Auveen Dezgaran, Lilly Heidari, Ash Kahn, Adir Lev Mann, Pooya Mohseni, Sade Namei and Sayé Yabandeh
The Alliance Theatre is excited to announce the cast of its upcoming regional premiere of English. Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, English has been called “a buoyant comedy and probing exploration of what it means to speak and feel understood.” (New York Theater Guide) The Alliance’s production will be directed by Iranian theatre & film director, choreographer, and writer, Shadi Ghaheri, who is now based in New York City. English is written by Iranian-American playwright Sanaz Toossi. This production will be the first of the 2023/24 season on the Hertz Stage, August 16 – September 17, 2023.
“English Only” is the mantra that rules one Iranian classroom where four adults are learning English in preparation for the TOEFL — the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Passing the test might be the key to better opportunities — a green card, medical school admission, or family reunification. Playing out in awkward lessons of word games and mistranslations, English is both a comedy of miscommunication and a look at the ways speaking a new language can expand your world and limit your identity.
“In the play [one of the characters asks], ‘Do you ever think about who you would be if you never had to think about staying or leaving?’ and I wonder about this question as an immigrant artist daily!” states director Shadi Ghaheri. “Who would I be if I didn’t need to leave my home, choose another language, therefore find another life through it? Who would I be if I could have the privilege of not thinking about this question? Each one of these characters have to sacrifice parts of themselves in the English language and wonder, ‘Would I love myself in English, like I do in my own language, Farsi?’”
The cast features all Iranian actors as includes Auveen Dezgaran as Goli; Lilly Heidari as Jennifer (voiceover), Ash Kahn (TV: The Chosen) as Omid, Adir Lev Mann as Coach (Voiceover) and Nader (Voiceover), Pooya Mohseni (TV: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Madam Secretary) as Marjan, Sade Namei (TV: New Amsterdam, Signature Theater: Emotional Creature) as Elham, Sayé Yabandeh (TV: The Young & The Restless, DGA Theater: The M Word) as Roya. The understudy cast for ENGLISH includes Laurie Shireen Sanii and Golbanoo Setayesh.
The creative team for English includes Director, Choreographer and Writer Shadi Ghaheri, Costume Designer Afsaneh Aayani, Lighting Designer Ben Rawson, Sound Designer Bahar Royaee, Scene Designer Sadra Tehrani, and Dramaturg Diana Fathi.
Additional production support is provided by Stage Manager Amanda J. Perez, Assistant Stage Manager Kaylee Mesa, Line Producer Kay Nilest, and Production Management Lead Phil Baranski.
“English is a beautiful invitation to its audience to see belonging and the subject of identity in a different perspective,” said director Shadi Ghaheri. “To melt in a world where a group of people are trying to find another life through a language that offers them more than their own! Or at least that is the promise! It must be nice to safely and simply belong where you are born to live! Not all human beings around the world have this privilege!”
Find more information about English here.
