The Script Society Reads "English" by Sanaz Toossi
About this Event
The Script Society is our collaborative play reading group led by Roxanne Baker. Let's enjoy drama without the anxiety of memorizing lines or donning costumes! Choose a Reader ticket if you'd like an assigned role and the chance to participate in the reading, or a Listener ticket if you'd prefer to sit back, follow along, and enjoy the performance unfolding around you. No experience required; all you need is curiosity, enthusiasm, and a love of great storytelling.
This month's selection is Sanaz Toossi's English—winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a funny, tender, and deeply moving play about language, identity, and belonging. Set in an English-language classroom in Iran, the play follows four adult students preparing for the TOEFL exam, each with their own reasons for wanting (or needing) to master a new language. As they stumble through pronunciation exercises, vocabulary drills, and conversation games, questions begin to emerge about what can be gained in translation and what might be lost along the way. Warm, witty, and beautifully observed, English offers a rich ensemble reading experience and plenty to talk about afterward.
We will meet in person in the loft at our store at The Mark, 117 S. Pineapple Ave. The book club is $22, which is the cost of your copy of English to be picked up at Bookstore1 any time before our meeting. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sanaz Toossi is an Iranian-American playwright from Orange County, California. Her plays include the critically acclaimed, award-winning ENGLISH (co-production Atlantic Theater Company/Roundabout Theatre Company) and WISH YOU WERE HERE (Playwrights Horizons; Williamstown/Audible, released 2020). She is currently under commission at Atlantic Theater Company (Launch commission; Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation grant), Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (American Revolutions Cycle). In television, Sanaz recently staffed on INVITATION TO A BONFIRE (AMC); A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (Amazon); FIVE WOMEN (Marielle Heller/ Big Beach); and sold an original idea, THE PERSIANS, to FX with Joe Weisberg & Joel Fields attached as Executive Producers. Sanaz is a member of Youngblood and the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at the Lark, and an alum of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers’ Group. She was the 2019 P73 Playwriting Fellow, a recipient of the 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award, and the 2022 recipient of The Horton Foote Award. MFA: NYU Tisch.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR:
Roxanne Baker hails from the mecca of film, Rochester, NY, where she introduced films at the George Eastman House. Since she arrived in Florida, she has moderated film talk-backs at Burns Court and taught Film Appreciation at Sarasota Art Museum through Osher Life Long Learning.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 25.78
