Interview: Babak Tafti of ENGLISH by Sanaz Toossi at The Wallis

Straight off its critically acclaimed Broadway run, the Pulitzer Prize winning English by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Knud Adams in the Atlantic Theater Company & Roundabout Theatre Company production, has a strictly limited engagement of 24 performances from April 4 to 26, 2026 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Toossi’s dramatic comedy about an Iranian ESL class studying for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for five 2025 Tony Awards including Best Play, direction by Adams, and scenic design by Marsha Ginsberg.

With unsettling news coming out of Iran daily, English gives audiences a chance to see the people behind the headlines. It’s a quietly powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam in a storefront school near Tehran, where family separations and travel restrictions drive them to learn a new language that may alter their identities as well as represent a new life.

Production photo credit: Kevin Parry

I decided to speak with Babak Tafti (pictured) who plays Omid, the only male student in the class who speaks English incredibly well, about not only his role in the play but what it means to bring English to American audiences right now.

Thanks for speaking with me today, Babak. Tell me about your history developing the character of Omid in English for the stage.

I helped develop the play with Sanaz at the beginning of the process and was set to play Omid in the first Off-Broadway production but was cast in a TV show. (Please tell me which show.) I did end up playing Omid in Barrington Stage Company’s production, which was Knud’s first time directing the show. 

(from left) Babak Tafti and Marjan Neshat

Had you worked with Knud previously? If so, where and when?

Yes, I’ve had the honor of working with him on an earlier production of English at Barrington Stage in the Berkshires and a few new work play readings in NYC and at South Coast Rep. I truly believe he’s one of the best directors we have.

You mentioned appearing on television. On what shows in what roles?

A few of my favorite TV roles are Eduard in the second season of HBO’s Succession, Bradford Luke in the last season of Showtime’s Billions, and Simeon in the upcoming Amazon show Joseph of Egypt.

Have you also been in films? Please tell me about them.

I’ve recently been in Amazon/MGM’s Crime 101 with Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, and Mark Ruffalo. A couple other favorites are The Feeling That the Time For Doing Something Has Passed which premiered at the Cannes Directors Fortnight Festival in 2023 and was released by Magnolia Pictures, and the IFC release Swallow.

(from left) Tala Ashe and Pooya Mohseni  

I know you are based in New York. Is that what keeps pulling you back into live theatre?

There’s nothing better than a beautiful play that challenges its audience or opens their eyes to a new experience. It's the comunitas that keeps me coming back.

Have you ever visited Iran? If not, how did you go about researching the character of Omid?

The last time I was in Iran was when I was 10. I think exploring being an Iranian-American has helped me find a core to Omid. When I was in Iran I felt like an “other" and I've had similar experiences here in the US. I think being caught in the liminal space between two identities is something that Omid is struggling with. He feels like he doesn’t fully belong anywhere.

(from left) Ava Lalezarzadeh, Babak Tafti, Marjan Neshat, and Pooya Mohseni

The Pew Research Center data places about 230,000 Iranian Americans in the wider Los Angeles metro area, the largest concentration of Iranians who live outside of Iran. Certainly, the play will draw them tin, but what do you think will draw non-Iranians to performances?

The experiences Sanaz writes about are universal. Anyone who's a first-generation kid or an immigrant can understand the struggles these four women and man are going through.

 (from left) Tala Ashe and Marjan Neshat

The play’s Iranian American actors speak with fluent contemporary American accents when their characters are speaking in Farsi, and use stilted or studied Iranian accents when they are speaking English. How difficult a process was that for you?

The calibrating of accent in comparison to the other students is an ongoing process. Sanaz has been great about keeping an ear out to make sure we’re all in the right pocket for our fluency. Omid has a light accent so it’s been a fun challenge to find consistent, light touches that give the accent the fluency it needs without losing the essence of the accent.

Are you a native English speaker or learned it as a second language?

I’m a native English speaker.

Ava Lalezarzadeh

Now on to the character of Omid. Tell me about who he is and what his purpose is in the play.

Omid is a bit of a mystery in the play. He's the most proficient English speaker in the class. Maybe even more proficient than the teacher, Marjan. That's the most I can say without going into spoiler territory.

You have played Omid in pervious productions. Why does his personality resonant with you?

Omid and I share questions of identity and where we fit in the world.

From L to R: Tala Ashe and Marjan Neshat

Have you previously worked with any of the other actors before? Which ones and where?

I had the pleasure of working with Tala and Marjan several times in NYC off-Broadway plays. Pooya and I did an English production at Barrington Stage. All of these powerhouse women are like my sisters. I’m excited for LA to see their brilliance.

American Theatre magazine cited English as the 20th of “50 Plays of the New Millenium that Pushed Theatre Forward.” Tell me why you think it made that list.

Personally, I think it could have been higher on the list. She is a special, generational voice that found such an exhilarating, funny, heartbreaking, and hopeful way to speak on something many immigrants and first-generation kids can relate to. This play is being done in theaters throughout the world in different languages. That alone speaks to its reach and power.

Thanks so much!