featured project

ENGLISH

By Sanaz Toossi
Cast: Sahar Bibiyan, Mehry Eslaminia, Sarah Nina Hayon, Christine Mirzayan, Amir Malaklou (Mar 31-Apr 20, 2023), Hadi Tabbal (Apr 21-May 7, 2023)

Scenic: Annie Smart
Costumes: Shahrzad Mazaheri
Lights: Reza Behjat
Sound & Original Composition: Mikhail Fiksel
Casting: X Casting, Victor Vazquez, CSA
Dialect Coach: Ana Bayat
Cultural Consultant: Torange Yeghiazarian
Stage Manager: Elisa Guthertz
Assistant Stage Manager: Christina Hogan

“Berkeley Rep’s ‘English’ is a master class in subtext…. First-rate actors, who under the direction of Mina Morita make these characters bloom…. Actors live in their characters so deeply they exude a joy in it, a kind of magic where you feel like you’ve already known them a long time.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“What comes through so remarkably in this intimate, often quite hilarious play is how oblivious we can be to the importance of language in expressing our identity…. [Mina] Morita’s wonderful cast works in shades of nuanced reality that allow us to feel like we’re really getting to know these characters…there’s abundant warmth and humor that keeps us deeply invested in these people’s lives…. We may not all speak English, but in English, especially in those moments of comedy, we’re all speaking the same language.”

—Chad Jones’ Theater Dogs

“Mina Morita has directed her impeccable cast with a light hand…[The play is] disarming and disorienting in equal measure….Every seemingly offhand comical observation is met with a more nuanced and thoughtful response…. Kudos to Berkeley Rep for bringing English to the Bay Area and giving it such a beautiful mounting.”

—Broadway World