Marjan Neshat had never worked with playwright Sanaz Toossi before reading the script for “English,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama now playing on Broadway. Still, the Iranian-born actor felt an instant connection to Toossi’s work that was reinforced by the fact that her character in the play shares her first name.
“Sanaz jokes that she wrote me into being,” Neshat said with a laugh. “I don’t know if that’s true, but the way I pronounce my name in the play is the way you pronounce it in Farsi. It’s the first time in my adult life that I don’t mispronounce my own name onstage. I knew there was gold in the play.”
“English,” which opened Jan. 23 at New York’s Todd Haimes Theatre, is set in Karaj, an Iranian city about 27 miles west of Tehran, circa 2008. Neshat’s character, Marjan, has returned to Iran after nine years in England and is teaching a course for adult students preparing for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), a standardized exam used to assess non-native English speakers’ proficiency.
Each of Marjan’s four students have unique motivations. The eldest, Roya (Pooya Mohseni), is hoping to relocate to Canada to live with her son and his family, while 18-year-old Goli (Ava Lalezarzadeh) sees learning English as her way of seeking new opportunities.
Marjan finds herself at odds with the headstrong Elham (Tala Ashe), who is determined to pass the TOEFL after five unsuccessful attempts. Elham grows suspicious of Marjan when the teacher develops a tight-knit relationship with a male student, Omid (Hadi Tabbal), whose grasp of English is superior to that of his classmates.
“English” marks Neshat’s Broadway debut. She and her cast mates originated their roles in 2022 when the play was produced to great acclaim by the Atlantic Theater Company off-Broadway. Many critics marveled at the surprisingly effective way Toossi and director Knud Adams have depicted characters slipping in and out of Farsi while keeping all of the dialogue in English, save for a single scene.
Though her family emigrated from Iran to England and later the U.S. when she was a child, Neshat found parallels to her character in her own life experience.
“Being from the Middle East, I feel like all the things I loved weren’t things that were given to me,” she said. “I loved ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ but nothing about me would make someone go, ‘That’s your kindred spirit.’ My character feels more alive in the possibility of something that’s not her birthright. I think that’s a real human quality, to live in a fantasy of how you want to see yourself. I feel protective of that in her.”
Toossi wrote “English” in 2017 in response to President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban citizens from Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. The play opened on Broadway just three days after Trump was sworn in for a second term last month.
Though “English” has few overt references to politics, Neshat believes the play has a subtle message for audiences weary of the global political climate.
“What’s been brought back is the divisiveness and this attempt to make people feel scared and smaller,” she continued. “My hope for the play is that it speaks to our connection and the fact we are all closer than we think. It’s a way to open up and be more tender. I don’t know what else can fight what is coming at us other than that.”
Neshat discovered her love of acting during her adolescent years in Seattle after performing in a community production of the comedy “Play On!” at age 14.
“I was a hypersensitive kid, and that play was my first experience of not feeling lonely,” she said. “In every other aspect of my life, my hypersensitivity was a weakness, but in this world, having access to feelings and empathy is a superpower.”
Her parents, however, felt differently. “My mom was like: ‘Have you heard of Marilyn Monroe? She died of drugs and depravity,’” she recalled. “Being an immigrant and a psychiatric nurse, my mom had seen the worst of what was happening in the world, so she was terrified. But I was stubborn.”
Neshat’s perseverance paid off, and she has found herself busier than ever in recent years. Her portrayal of Marjan in the 2022 Atlantic production of “English” landed her an Obie Award, which recognizes exceptional off-Broadway performances.
High-profile roles in the stage plays “Selling Kabul,” “Sandra” and “Wish You Were Here,” the last of which was written by Toossi, soon followed. Currently, she can be seen on Netflix’s “The Night Agent” as Azita Taheri, a mother eager to flee Iran after her son’s death.
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Both “The Night Agent” and her theatrical projects have shifted Neshat’s perspective on the type of work she aims to pursue in the future.
“There’s always this feeling of, ‘I have so much more to give and I have so much more to say’ ― I think we all feel that way,” she said. “I’ve dreamed of these roles, but I didn’t necessarily know they were possible. But having had a taste of what it’s like to carry something, collaborate and make it grow … I’m eager to continue on that path.”
