SpeakEasy Stage Company Presents ENGLISH This Month

From October 21 to November 19, 2022, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the Boston premiere of ENGLISH, Sanaz Toossi's award-winning play.

The play is set in Karaj, Iran in 2008, and centers on Marjan, an English teacher struggling to prepare her four students to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The exam has life-changing implications for each classmate; but between the word games and show-and-tell sessions, one student seems set on derailing the lesson plan. With wit, wisdom, and compassion, this heartfelt comedy uses language as a lens to explore identity, heritage, and community.

Sanaz Toossi is Iranian-American playwright and Orange County, California native. Her works include the recent New York hit Wish You Were Here. She is currently under commission at Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (American Revolutions Cycle). In television, Ms. Toossi recently staffed on Invitation to a Bonfire (AMC); A League of Their Own (Amazon); and Five Women (Marielle Heller/ Big Beach).

Melory Mirashrafi will make their SpeakEasy debut with this production. They are a first-generation Iranian-American theatre artist based in Portland, Oregon, where they work as the Artistic & Producing Associate at Artists Repertory Theatre. Melory was previously the 2019-2020 Literary Apprentice for Boston's Huntington Theatre Company.

Josephine Moshiri Elwood, Lily Gilan James, Deniz Khateri, Leyla Modirzadeh, and Zaven Ovian will bring the rich characters in ENGLISH to life.

The design team is Janie E. Howland (scenic); Nina Vartanian (costumes); Amanda E. Fallon (lighting); and Ash (sound). Deirdre Benson is the Production Stage Manager.

ENGLISH will run for five weeks, from October 21 through November 19, 2022, in the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston's South End.

Ticket prices start at $25, with discounts for students, seniors, and people age 25 and under. For tickets or more information, the public is invited to call BostonTheatreScene Ticketing Services at 617.933.8600 or visit www.SpeakEasyStage.com.

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