English / Wish You Were Here - by Sanaz Toossi (Paperback)

About the Book

"Two breakout plays by an Iranian-American playwright that examine the human costs of migration, both for those who leave their home country and for those who stay. Sanaz Toossi's English is a comic and empathetic play about a group of Iranian students taking an English language class in the hopes of passing the challenging TOEFL exam. Navigating word games and listening exercises, the students make every effort to become fluent enough to migrate abroad in order to pursue their disparate goals-one hopes to reunite with her Canadian son, another wishes to pursue medical school in Australia. All feel a tension between their Iranian homeland and their hoped-for future. In Wish You Were Here, the focus shifts to a close-knit group of women who initially decide to remain in Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, priorities shift as their fluctuating friendships begin to mirror the quickly changing political realities of the country. Taken together, these two plays provide a deeply humanizing portrait of the complex effects of diaspora both within and outside of Iran"--

Book Synopsis

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR DRAMA 2023 -- ENGLISH

In this two-play volume, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sanaz Toossi explores the emotional toll of migration, both for those who leave and those who stay.

Taken together, English and Wish You Were Here offer a moving portrait of the complex effects of the Iranian diaspora.

Review Quotes

"Both English and Wish You Were Here are gentle character studies, where an accretion of tiny details adds up to something deeply emotional." --Jeff Lunden, NPR

"An absorbing seriocomedy, English is one of those invigoratingly funny and perceptively drawn plays that satisfy a curiosity you didn't know you harbored...An elegantly crafted play about the desire to open oneself up to new worlds through new words." --Peter Marks, The Washington Post

"English is both a buoyant comedy of communication and a subtle but probing exploration of what it means to speak out loud and feel understood...A stunning meditation on what makes us human." --Naveen Kumar, New York Theatre Guide

"In a scene for almost every year from 1978 to 1991, a period encompassing the Islamic Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, and the country's steps toward economic stability, Toossi chooses to focus on the women and how their relationships to one another change with marriages, deaths, and sudden departures." --Maya Phillips, The New York Times

About the Author

Sanaz Toossi is an Iranian American playwright from Orange County, California. She was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for English. In addition to writing for the stage, Toossi's television work includes Five Women (Marielle Heller/Big Beach), A League of Their Own (Amazon), and Invitation to a Bonfire (AMC).