Name: English
Start: 2023-09-17Tnull
Location: Alliance Theatre

Shadi Ghaheri

Alliance Theatre

“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. A hit in its 2021 New York premiere, English was described as, “a rich new play, both contemplative and comic” by The New York Times and was awarded the 2023 Obie Award for Best New Play staged Off-Broadway over the last two years.  New York Theatre Guide called it, “a buoyant comedy and probing exploration of what it means to speak and feel understood.” 