Sanaz Toossi
{{Short description|American playwright and screenwriter}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Sanaz Toossi
| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|32|2024|4|24}}
| birth_place = Orange County, California, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Playwright, screenwriter, actress
| education = University of California, Santa Barbara (BA)
New York University (MFA)
| genre = Drama, comedy, dramatic comedy, comedy-drama
| subject = Iranian diaspora, language, identity, family
}}
Sanaz Toossi (born 1991/1992) is an American playwright and screenwriter. Her play English won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2023.{{Cite web|date=May 8, 2023|title=Here are the winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prizes|url=https://www.npr.org/2023/05/08/1174740265/pulitzer-prize-winners-2023|website=NPR|access-date=May 8, 2023|archive-date=May 8, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508201859/https://www.npr.org/2023/05/08/1174740265/pulitzer-prize-winners-2023|url-status=live}}
Life and career
Toossi was born in Orange County, California, where she grew up. She is of Iranian descent; her father, an engineer, emigrated to the United States before the Iranian Revolution and her mother, a chemist, did so afterward.{{Cite web|url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2022/04/28/sanaz-toossi-can-we-talk/|title=Sanaz Toossi: Can We Talk?|first=Diep|last=Tran|date=April 28, 2022|website=AMERICAN THEATRE|access-date=January 2, 2023|archive-date=January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102050310/https://www.americantheatre.org/2022/04/28/sanaz-toossi-can-we-talk/|url-status=live}} She is an only child,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/theater/sanaz-toossi-english-wish-you-were-here.html|title='Writing a Trauma Play Makes Me Want to Dry Heave'|first=Alexis|last=Soloski|work=The New York Times|date=February 17, 2022|via=NYTimes.com|access-date=January 2, 2023|archive-date=January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102050255/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/theater/sanaz-toossi-english-wish-you-were-here.html|url-status=live}} spoke Persian in her family home and English outside it, and visited Iran regularly when she was growing up. She grew up a self-described "weird theatre kid."{{Cite web|url=https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/upstage-guides-current/english/playwright-sanaz-toossi/|title=Playwright Sanaz Toossi|website=www.roundabouttheatre.org|access-date=January 2, 2023|archive-date=January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102050257/https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/upstage-guides-current/english/playwright-sanaz-toossi/|url-status=live}}
Toossi earned her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, majoring in pre-law. She said that she decided to change her career plan from law to playwriting after seeing a performance of Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles at the South Coast Repertory. She graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU in 2018. There she studied under Suzan-Lori Parks, Oskar Eustis, and Lucas Hnath. Her plays are drawn from personal experience and the experiences of her family.
Her first two major plays opened in New York in early 2022, in off-Broadway theaters: English at the Atlantic Theater Company in February and Wish You Were Here at Playwrights Horizons in April.
=''English''=
Toossi originally wrote English as her NYU graduate school thesis. She described it as an angry reaction to President Trump's 2017 executive order, known as the "Muslim ban," prohibiting travel to the United States from Iran and six other Muslim-majority states. The play is a comedy set in a schoolroom in Karaj, Iran where a teacher is teaching the English language to four adult students. Helen Shaw wrote in a February 2025 review in The New Yorker that English addresses "the way half-learned languages can rub against one another, sometimes erasing aspects—compassion, graciousness, humor—of the person using them." Shaw added, "for all the precise realism of the play's setting and dialogue, Toossi seems to be writing allegorically about a wider experience, perhaps one familiar to her, of the immigrant's double consciousness."{{cite magazine |last1=Shaw |first1=Helen |title=Language Lesssons: Sanaz Toossi's "English" arrives on Broadway |magazine=The New Yorker |date=3 February 2025}}
The first production of English, scheduled for 2020 at the Roundabout Theatre Company's Underground Black Box Theatre, was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The play opened at the Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater, in a co-production with Roundabout, on February 22, 2022.{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Jesse |title=Review: Learning 'English,' When Your Accent Is a 'War Crime' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/theater/english-review-sanaz-toossi.html |access-date=23 February 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=23 February 2022}} English was staged in 2023 and 2024 across North America, in Boston; Washington, D.C.; Toronto; Montreal; Berkeley, California; Atlanta; Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Seattle; Chicago; and Minneapolis;{{cite news |last1=Paulson |first1=Michael |title=Sanaz Toossi on Her Pulitzer: 'This Signals to Iranians Our Stories Matter' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/theater/sanaz-toossi-pulitzer-prize-english.html |access-date=22 February 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=9 May 2023}} in the UK in May and June 2024, first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company and then at the Kiln Theatre in London;{{cite news |last1=Bano |first1=Tim |title=Writer Sanaz Toossi on bringing 'English' to Britain: 'It's a play born of rage' |url=https://www.ft.com/content/2e3f9899-ede5-40fc-b269-27231e3949d9 |access-date=25 February 2025 |work=Financial Times |date=24 April 2024}} in Melbourne and Canberra, Australia in August and September 2024;{{cite news |last1=Heath |first1=Nicola |title=This Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy about life in Iran will make you laugh out loud |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-15/english-play-mtc-tasnim-hossain-salme-geransar/104223352 |access-date=25 February 2025 |work=ABC News |date=14 August 2024 |language=en-AU}} and in January 2025, at the Todd Haimes Theater, as its Broadway debut.{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Jesse |title=Review: In 'English,' Looking for a Language to Live In |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/theater/english-review-broadway-toossi.html |access-date=21 February 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=24 January 2025}} Toossi herself starred in the 2023 Barrington Stage production of English as Elham.{{cite web |last1=Culwell-Block |first1=Logan |title=Sanaz Toossi Will Star in Her Pulitzer-Winning English at Barrington Stage Company |url=https://playbill.com/article/sanaz-toossi-will-star-in-her-pulitzer-winning-english-at-barrington-stage-company |website=Playbill |access-date=24 February 2025 |date=20 July 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Barnes |first1=Steve |title=Review: Pulitzer-winning play 'English' scores A for Barrington Stage |url=https://www.timesunion.com/theater/article/barrington-stage-review-english-18399825.php |website=Times Union |access-date=24 February 2025 |date=2 October 2023}}
=''Wish You Were Here''=
Toossi wrote Wish You Were Here long after English, though it debuted first. She has called it a love letter to her mother. It has been described as a "drama" or a "comedy" or a "dramatic comedy"{{cite news |last1=Bahr |first1=Sarah |title=New Playwrights Horizons Season Includes Will Arbery World Premiere |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/theater/playwrights-horizons-will-arbery-world-premiere.html |access-date=25 February 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=14 July 2021}} or a "comedy-drama." It is also partially set in Karaj, and in it five women talk about their lives over thirteen years beginning in 1978, against the backdrop of that period of Iranian history. Shaw's New Yorker review describes Wish You Were Here as "gorgeous," stating "I was reminded of how brilliantly Toossi can write for people who don't understand their own motivations," and that in it, compared to English, "the playwright demonstrates far more comfort with elision and, ironically, with the unspoken."{{cite news |last1=Hall |first1=Margaret |title=Playwright Sanaz Toossi Steps Into Playwrights Horizons Wish You Were Here |url=https://playbill.com/article/playwright-sanaz-toossi-steps-into-playwrights-horizons-wish-you-were-here |access-date=22 February 2025 |work=Playbill |date=21 May 2022}}
Wish You Were Here premiered on July 1, 2020, as an audio performance released on Audible by the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its stage debut at Playwrights Horizons began previews April 13, 2022 and officially opened on May 3, 2022. Its run there was extended at least twice. Toossi acted in that performance, playing the role of Rana, on May 21 and 22, 2022.{{cite web |title=Wish You Were Here |url=https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/94849/wish-you-were-here |website=Concord Theatricals |access-date=22 February 2025 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=WTF is Happening in 2020 |url=https://archive.wtfestival.org/wtf-is-happening-in-2020/ |website=Williamstown Theatre Festival |access-date=23 February 2025}} It was staged at South Coast Repertory in southern California in January–February 2025.{{cite news |last1=Marchese |first1=Eric |title='Wish You Were Here' Traces Friendship in Turbulent Times |url=https://www.cultureoc.org/post/wish-you-were-here-traces-friendship-in-turbulent-times |access-date=23 February 2025 |work=Culture OC |date=8 January 2025 |language=en}}
=Awards=
In 2020, Toossi was one of 20 playwrights named as winners of the Steinberg Playwright Awards by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.{{cite web |title=2020 Steinberg Playwright Award Recipients |url=https://www.dramatistsguild.com/thedramatist/2020-steinberg-playwright-award-recipients |website=Dramatists Guild |access-date=21 February 2025 |language=en}} She won the 2021 National Theatre Conference's Barrie & Bernice Stavis Playwright Award as "an outstanding emerging playwright".{{cite web |title=Stavis Playwright Award |url=https://www.nationaltheatreconference.org/stavis-playwright-award.html |website=NATIONAL THEATRE CONFERENCE |access-date=25 February 2025 |language=en}} In 2022 the Dramatists Guild of America names Toossi as winner of the Horton Foote Award, for "a dramatist whose work seeks to plumb the ineffable nature of being human."{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Sanaz-Toossi-Jeanine-Tesori-Alice-Childress-and-More-To-Receive-Dramatists-Guild-Awards-20220719|title=Sanaz Toossi, Jeanine Tesori, Alice Childress and More To Receive Dramatists Guild Awards|first=Chloe|last=Rabinowitz|website=BroadwayWorld.com|access-date=January 2, 2023|archive-date=January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102050255/https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Sanaz-Toossi-Jeanine-Tesori-Alice-Childress-and-More-To-Receive-Dramatists-Guild-Awards-20220719|url-status=live}} She received a special citation for emerging talent, based on English and Wish You Were Here, in the 2022 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards.{{cite news |last1=Gans |first1=Andrew |title=2022 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards Presented May 20 |url=https://playbill.com/article/2022-new-york-drama-critics-circle-awards-presented-may-20 |access-date=25 February 2025 |work=Playbill |date=20 May 2022}}
English received the Williamstown Theatre Festival's L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award in 2020,{{cite news |last1=McPhee |first1=Ryan |title=Sanaz Toossi's English Wins Williamstown Theatre Festival's 2020 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award |url=https://playbill.com/article/sanaz-toossis-english-wins-williamstown-theatre-festivals-2020-l-arnold-weissberger-new-play-award |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Playbill |date=5 March 2020}} the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play in 2022,{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2022/05/13/1097281989/iranian-american-playwright-is-set-on-breaking-expectations|title=Iranian-American playwright is set on breaking expectations|website=NPR|access-date=January 2, 2023|archive-date=January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102050304/https://www.npr.org/2022/05/13/1097281989/iranian-american-playwright-is-set-on-breaking-expectations|url-status=live}} the 2022 Obie Award for Best New American Play,{{cite web |title=2022 Awards |url=https://www.obieawards.com/events/2020s/year-22/ |website=Obie Awards |access-date=21 February 2025}} the 2021-22 John Gassner Award (for a new American play, preferably by a new playwright) from the Outer Critics Circle Awards,{{cite web |title=2021-2022 Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced |url=https://www.dramatistsguild.com/thedramatist/2021-2022-outer-critics-circle-award-winners-announced |website=Dramatists Guild |access-date=23 February 2025 |language=en}} the Dramatists Guild's 2023 Hull-Warriner Award (co-winner),{{cite web |title=Samuel D. Hunter, Sanaz Toossi, More Win 2023 Dramatists Guild Awards |url=https://playbill.com/article/samuel-d-hunter-sanaz-toossi-more-win-2023-dramatists-guild-awards |website=Playbill |access-date=23 February 2025}} and the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for drama.{{cite web |title=The 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Drama |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/sanaz-toossi |website=The Pulitzer Prizes |access-date=21 February 2025 |language=en}}
Wish You Were Here was nominated for the 2023 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.{{cite news |last1=Culwell-Block |first1=Logan |title=Some Like It Hot Dominates 2023 Drama Desk Awards; See the Full List of Winners |url=https://playbill.com/article/some-like-it-hot-dominates-2023-drama-desk-awards-see-the-full-list-of-winners |access-date=25 February 2025 |work=Playbill |date=31 May 2023}}
Works
=As playwright=
- English (2022){{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/07/shifting-identities-in-sanaz-toossis-english|title=Shifting Identities in Sanaz Toossi's "English"|date=February 24, 2022|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=January 2, 2023|archive-date=January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102050255/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/07/shifting-identities-in-sanaz-toossis-english|url-status=live}}
- Wish You Were Here (2022){{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/theater/wish-you-were-here-review.html|title='Wish You Were Here' Review: The Saga of Female Friendship|first=Maya|last=Phillips|work=The New York Times|date=May 4, 2022|via=NYTimes.com|access-date=January 2, 2023|archive-date=January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102050304/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/theater/wish-you-were-here-review.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://playbill.com/article/world-premiere-of-sanaz-toossis-wish-you-were-here-receives-2nd-extension|title=World Premiere of Sanaz Toossi's Wish You Were Here Receives 2nd Extension | Playbill|access-date=January 2, 2023|archive-date=January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102115512/https://playbill.com/article/world-premiere-of-sanaz-toossis-wish-you-were-here-receives-2nd-extension|url-status=live}}
=As screenwriter=
- A League of Their Own (2022)
- Five Women{{Cite web|url=https://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/players/sanaz-toossi/|title=Sanaz Toossi|website=Playwrights Horizons}}
- Invitation to a Bonfire
References
{{Reflist}}
{{PulitzerPrize DramaAuthors|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Toossi, Sanaz}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American writers of Iranian descent
Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:21st-century American screenwriters
Category:American women dramatists and playwrights
Category:American women television writers
Category:Television writers from California
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:Writers from Orange County, California