Actor

Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize! This heartfelt, humorous play follows five strangers in an Iranian TOEFL class as they navigate language, identity, and unexpected friendships. Each brings a personal reason for learning English, discovering along the way what is lost—and found—in translation. No matter how difficult the course gets, the human spirit shines through.

EPSG:4326

English

Alley Theatre

“English Only.” Four adult students in Karaj, Iran are studying for the Test of English as a Foreign Language—the key to their green card, medical school admission or family reunification. Chasing fluency through a maze of word games, listening exercises and show-and-tell sessions, they hope that one day, English will make them whole. But it might be splitting them each in half.

Goodman Theatre

In 2003, newly-wed Layal and her family prepare to immigrate from Baghdad, Iraq, to a Chicago suburb. Seventeen years later, Layal’s life looks unimaginably different from what she had envisioned two decades prior, as she and her siblings explore queerness, face their grief, and discover what it takes to make home in a new place. Don’t miss this moving, powerful new play’s world premiere on the Owen Stage—fresh from Goodman’s New Stages and Future Labs programs.

Actor

Shadee Vossoughi

Events

Past events

5 - 8 Mar, 2026

English · Alley Theatre

May 10 - Jun 9, 2024

English · Goodman Theatre

About

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