Interview: Pooya Mohseni And Joe Joseph Discuss Bringing the Characters and Story Of ENGLISH to life at The Old Globe

Pooya Mohseni and Joe Joseph on bringing ENGLISH, a funny and heartfelt show about language, identity, and being understood to life on stage at The Old Globe through February 25th.  

Written by Sanaz Toossi, ENGLISH follows four adult students and the teacher in Tehran as the students learn English for an exam that will impact their future travel, education, and employment opportunities.   As the students struggle to varying degrees with the new language, everyone, including the teacher is impacted by the potential costs that this new language and opportunity may cost.

Pooya Mohseni, plays Marjan, the teacher who speaks fluent English and has lived abroad for many years, and upon her return is now teaching others so they can have similar opportunities.  Joe Joseph is one of those students Omid, who speaks English very well and is there to practice before the test, though his motivations for being in the class are less clear.

Mohseni has performed this show multiple times, from the first public reading in 2018 in the role of Roya one of the students in the class to her current role as the teacher Marjan, says that being able to bring this story and these characters to life is an opportunity she relishes.

“I loved the role I was originally asked to read for, which was the role of Roya, the grandmother, and that character felt very familiar to me, as she was some hybrid of my mom and my grandmother. But, what made it even more exciting was that there had never been a play about these people before. They're Iranian, but they are nuanced. They are the protagonists of their own stories, not just a side dish or the villain of some white savior narrative. These characters have fears, desires, regrets, and agency. 

What has attracted me to the role I'm playing now, the teacher, is that I grew up with women who were that person. They were my teachers, people who taught me how to speak English, and more importantly, she is a variation of my mom. Playing this role is like a love letter to my mom's journey, in some way. I've always found the role to be complex, and nuanced with a dash of sadness and hope. As an actor, I love to find my way through the caverns of this kind of character.”

Joseph says that he was also drawn to the play as a comedy about belonging, and for the opportunity to bring it to life at The Old Globe.

“Sanaz’s play is an elegant treatise on belonging and linguistics in the vehicle of a comedy. I was drawn to the power and ambiguity of her words, the emotions beneath them. Art aside, I’ve wanted to work at The Old Globe ever since visiting it for the first time in 2021. It’s a special place.”

Pooya agrees that the chance to bring this show to The Old Globe, and with director Arya Shahi’s approach and enthusiasm about the play and community was exciting.

“What I love about this production is that it is at The Old Globe and seeing this play performed at such an established theater is such a huge milestone, as both an actor and an Iranian American. This is the first time this play has been done in the round and that makes it challenging and exciting at the same time. It feels very intimate and every move, every gesture, is seen from every angle, which makes it more vulnerable than having the audience on just one side, but that also makes it very fun to work with.”

This is the 4th time performing the play for Pooya, and her second time as Marjan, and working with Arya as a director as well as new cast members has only added depth to her understanding of the piece and her performance of it.

 “In this production, I wanted to explore different sides of this woman, with different castmates, which does make for a very different dynamic, and through the lens and vision of a new director. 

Arya was excited about doing this play, doing it his way and he was curious about the different things about this role that made it feel like a whole new journey. When I auditioned for him, he was interested in what I had learned about this play before. He helped me find new things and together, we have created a new life for this character. 

Getting to explore different sides of the same role is amazing, almost like playing a character who gets to evolve through multiple seasons of a series and that's how I feel about this production. Think of this as my season 4 of this story. What has surprised me about being in this play multiple times is that not only am I not tired of it, but I get to understand it better, love it more, and feel more passionate about the story we are telling. On top of that, getting to work with different people is like creating a new family, and I feel very lucky as everyone in this production is a dream and I have come to love them and the work we are sharing with the public."

One of the notable parts of this show is the character's switch from speaking fluent Farsai to their newer English.  While the show is fully performed in English, the switches between Farso and their burgeoning English skills are made clear through the ease, clarity, and fluidity with which they speak.  Joseph, who is used to switching between speaking and singing in other shows, like THE BAND’S VISIT, says that the language switching in ENGLISH is similar in how it is used to convey the story.

“Every show is its own little world, with its own ways of communicating. Whether it’s in song, verse, dialogue, Dari, Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, or English… you just use sound to tell a story. Singing is just talking on the pitch.”

Both Pooya and Joe hope that the audience leaves feeling a connection to the show, and the characters, and that overall we’re not that different from one another, no matter where we call home.

“I hope that part of Sanaz’s story connects with the audience and their own inner lives, regardless of any perceived distance from the world and artifice of the play, “ Joe Joseph says. “The Middle East and Iran are places that Americans often consider with skepticism or diminution. But English is about universal human needs, matters of the soul. We live in a time that allows us to dehumanize others so easily. I hope that our show helps us not to dehumanize those we consider different, and in turn, to not further dehumanize ourselves.”

 "I'd like the audience to walk away feeling and thinking different things: Maybe they feel this is their story, regardless of where they are from, or maybe they feel that they have a new insight into the lives of people who look and sound different from them on the surface, but underneath the accent and the cultural background, they're not that different after all," Pooya says. “Our play is a comedy, with some very heartfelt moments.”

How To Get Tickets

You can see Pooya Mohseni, Joe Joseph, and the rest of the cast of ENGLISH at the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center through February 18, 2024.

Photo Credit: Photo by Rich Soublet II.

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