'English' actress Marjan Neshat feels like a lottery winner
This interview is part of our New York Talent Guide series, which spotlights rising and undersung Broadway stars whom theatregoers shouldn't miss on stage.
“I feel like I’ve won the lottery,” said Marjan Neshat as she reflected on her acting career. Her success isn’t thanks to a dollar and a dream, but to talent that shines through on stage and screen.
Neshat is currently savoring a multi-platform moment. On Broadway through March 2, she plays a teacher also named Marjan in Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning English, a play about five Iranian adults' struggles with language and identity in an ESL class.
Released, coincidentally, on English's opening night was season 2 of Netflix’s The Night Agent, in which Neshat plays a mother whose daughter in New York goes to dangerous lengths to get her out of Iran.
“At its core, things don’t change as an actor,” Neshat said, when asked about shifting gears from gentle drama to nail-biting action. “There’s style and there’s tone and understanding the character’s world, and you make adjustments. Then you must live it.”
Born in Tehran, Neshat came to the U.S. while in grade school. Since moving to New York City in 1998 after studying at SUNY Purchase, she’s lived in the world of many characters. She made her Off-Broadway debut in 2002 in Donna Spector’s Golden Ladder, but a series of celebrated Off-Broadway plays between 2021-22 – Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul, the world premiere of Toossi’s English and Wish You Were Here, and David Cale’s Sandra – marked Neshat's noteworthy breakthrough and earned her Obie and Drama Desk Awards.
Along the way, Neshat forged a significant bond with Toossi, whom she called a “soulmate. She understands the world and the way that I like to look at the world,” the actress said. Toossi also presented Neshat with something actors dream of: her Broadway debut. Neshat, her four Off-Broadway co-stars, Toossi, and director Knud Adams all made theirs when the show transferred from Atlantic Theater Company to the Todd Haimes Theatre.
“We all talk about trying not to pre-grieve the ending of this experience,” she said, “because it really has been so magical.”
Neshat spoke with New York Theatre Guide about her long relationship with English, what she brought to Night Agent, her love for Chekhov, and what’s different about stage and screen acting.
Get English tickets now.
How did you get involved with English?
It was really a while back, pre-pandemic, maybe 2016. A director called me and was like, "I'm directing someone's senior thesis, and it has your namesake. Can you just come and read this play?" I was working at the time and couldn’t. Later, I read one scene of it for a benefit. And then Sanaz was like, "Please do this play." And I was like, "Okay, yes."
New York Theatre Guide's review of English on Broadway called it “a triumph.” Did you know that immediately?
When we started English off Broadway, because there was such a huge rewriting process, we didn't quite know what we had until our first preview. The way it was met and received — then we understood we had a play. It’s a gift to develop plays with Sanaz. Every day she comes back in and you're like, "Oh my God. I didn't think it could go to this next level." But it could.
What’s changed in the move to Broadway?
We went in with a lot more trust of each other, of our director, of the play. So, immediately, it just was deeper. It hurt more. I remember going home being like, "I feel like I have less skin." It just was so raw.
Multiple rom-coms come up in the play. Are you a fan?
Yes. I watched Notting Hill, I watched Love Actually, and every movie that's in the play or adjacent — romantic things that Marjan [the character] would watch. I had a really incredible movie marathon.
Did English play a part in you being cast in Night Agent?
The casting director came to, I think, three of the four plays that I did [after the pandemic]. It's a part I would have ended up auditioning for because I sort of fit the bill. But I do think, probably, seeing my work made her think of me. The writers and showrunner were very open to the way I wanted to play my character. I felt very respected and appreciated.
What's different to you about stage and screen acting?
When you do theatre, in a way, you are self-editing, given what the director has given you. On film and TV, so much of the performance gets created in the editing room. But you have to give them the raw goods.
Do you have a favorite playwright?
I love Chekhov. He’s my writer. I used to always joke that I thought I belonged in a Russian theatre company at the turn of the century. His plays are bottomless. You never get bored or tired.
What do you want audiences to take away from English?
I hope people will be a little more tender and open to people they see around them. Language, and especially accents, can sometimes be a barrier to being your whole self. The best art will get us more in touch with our humanity.
Get English tickets now.
Top image credit: Marjan Neshat. (Photo courtesy of production)
Photo credit: Marjan Neshat in English on Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus and Maria Baranova)
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