‘English’ gives Guthrie Theater audiences a different sort of immigrant story

Long after the end of a recent production of “English” at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, a group of Iranian audience members remained glued to their front-row seats.

It wasn’t only because they were still absorbing the power of the brisk, ambitious comedy about students bonding and bickering in a Tehran classroom. They were also obsessing over the familiar items spread across the set — the tiles, the light switches, the label on a water bottle — many of which came directly from director Hamid Dehghani’s family home in Iran.

Dehghani can relate to that pang of nostalgia.

Six years ago, he was very much like the characters in Sanaz Toossi’s play, which has shifted to the Guthrie Theater for a five-week run, preparing for an English language exam that would make it easier for him to immigrate to America. He was frustrated by the state of affairs in his native country.

But despite his desire to leave a land of scant opportunity, he also had to come to terms with giving up so much of what he loved.

Most of the characters in the five-person play, which won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize, are equally eager to escape, but slowly face what they are giving up.

“You lose a lot. Friends, family, the music, the food,” Dehghani said earlier this month while sitting around a conference table at the Minneapolis theater with the entire cast, shortly before the second day of rehearsals. “I have made a note to myself to make American friends, but it’s hard. You feel alone all the time.”

There’s a lot of funny references to the American dream in the 90-minute, no-intermission play. The teacher, Marjan (Roxanna Hope Radja), and her most promising pupil, Omid (Pej Vahdat), bond over Julia Roberts’ rom-coms and Coca-Cola.

The sadness sneaks up on you. One by one, each character comes to grips with the realization of what lies ahead if and when they make it to Canada, Australia or the United States.

“As much as I love the United States, it has hurt me and wounded me many times,” said Radja, whose parents moved to this country during 1979′s Iranian Revolution.

It’s a reaction that many first- and second-generation immigrants are likely to share.

“I grew up watching people get impatient with my mother’s accent or are not able to handle her level of hospitality,” Radja said. “There’s a wall, even between those people with the best of intentions. There’s a sense of being different and weird.”

It’s hard to imagine white audience members being moved in the same fashion as those Persians who lingered so long at the Goodman. Nikki Massoud, who plays a headstrong medical student, thinks they’ll come away with a better appreciation of how much immigrants must love their new home in order to sacrifice so much.

“Most people are just born here. These people chose this country. Doesn’t that make them more American?” she said. “I hope people walk away from our show thinking about how their neighbor with an accent worked really hard to get here.”

The cast has had a nearly monthlong break since the Chicago portion of the Guthrie and Goodman co-production. They used rehearsal time to adjust to a space that’s nearly twice as big as their last one and to incorporate what they learned the first time around.

“I think any role you get to do again, you just go deeper,” said Shadee Vossoughi, who, like the rest of the cast, is making her Guthrie debut. “I was back home with family during the break, observing my Persian parents and a Persian culture with my senses heightened. I was getting all these nuggets I didn’t see before.”

The feedback she got from Chicago fans was that they were most affected by how each character has different motivations and different personalities.

“We tend to overgeneralize who immigrants are,” Vossoughi said. “My dad never thinks about going to Iran. His sister does. Everyone has a different approach or hardship. We don’t all fit together and agree on everything.”

Dehghani has become more comfortable with his heritage since taking on the project — and is better prepared than ever to make some Minnesota pals.

“This play has been like therapy,” he said. “I’m no longer ashamed to say to people, ‘What did you say? I didn’t understand that word.’ I hope it does the same for others who speak English as a second language.”

When: 7:30 p.m. most nights through Aug. 18. 1 p.m. shows on most Wed., Sat. & Sun.

Where: Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls.

Tickets: $29-$82. guthrietheater.org