Poya Mohseni's Account of Acting in 'English': Receiving the Pulitzer is a Great Achievement

This year, the Pulitzer Prize for Best Play was awarded to 'English' written by Sanaz Toosi, which is considered a significant achievement for this Iranian-American writer. In recent months, the performance of this play in various cities across the United States and Canada has received a warm reception from audiences and art critics, who describe it as an 'impactful' and 'inspiring' work. Poya Mohseni, an Iranian artist, is one of the first actors to participate in the performances of this play at the Atlantic Theater in New York City. In an interview with Voice of America, he explained his experience of acting in this play and its characteristics. According to this actor, the story revolves around four Iranians who are learning English at a language school in Tehran to pursue their lives. He further adds that the characters in the story include three women aged twenty, thirty, and fifty, and a thirty-year-old man, each wanting to learn English for different reasons, such as continuing their education to emigrate from the country. Poya Mohseni plays the role of the fifty-year-old woman who intends to leave the country to see her grandchild and needs to know English to communicate with him. This actor states, 'An interesting point about these characters is that when we learn a new language, do we become two people, or do we become half of ourselves, because some of our thoughts and feelings can be expressed in the new language, while others cannot.' Poya Mohseni continues that many Iranians have faced a feeling at some point that part of themselves, their family, or their culture unfortunately gets lost in the new language. He mentions that the main focus of the play is this new language and its impact on the characters and identity of individuals, beautifully expressed. According to Poya Mohseni, receiving the Pulitzer Prize for 'English' is a great success, and the jury described it as a strong and engaging play that conveys its message to the audience very calmly and gently. This actor notes that after the performances at the Atlantic Theater in New York, 'English' has been staged with other actors, groups, and directors in cities like Washington, Boston, and Berkeley, and performances will continue in other areas. Poya Mohseni states that this play is entirely in English, but when these characters speak in their mother tongue, Persian, they speak English very fluently, and when they try to speak English, they have an accent and even struggle with simple words because they do not know the language well, making it very difficult for them. He adds that this way, the sense of freedom and comfort that the characters have in their mother tongue is conveyed to the audience, allowing them to understand them better. This actor says, 'The success of this play is very important because there have not been many works where Iranians can see their stories and identity on stage, and on the other hand, the larger community can become familiar with the hardships of an Iranian immigrant's life and the sacrifices they make to create a better and peaceful life for themselves and their families.' Poya Mohseni congratulates Sanaz Toosi and takes pride in his friendship and collaboration with her, confident that this Iranian-American writer will bring more stories about Iran and Iranians to the stage in the future. Sanaz Toosi is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her family left Iran after the 1979 revolution and immigrated to California.