The Language Archive, by Julia Cho, is the second of our four productions in season 8. This is the second consecutive year we have featured a winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the first being Naomi Wallace's plague drama One Flea Spare in the spring of 2011. From their website: "The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, established in 1978, is given annually to recognize women who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre."

 

We were drawn to the rich lyricism of this play, as well as to the many facets of language it represents.  We want to know more about the linguist who cannot find the right words, the couple who communicates in English only when they are angry, and the woman who believes that learning second languages is about love. Additionally, each character is driven by deep questions that we can't wait to start uncovering with our director Jessica Burgess and the artistic team. Each character in the play is at the end of something monumental - a life, a marriage, a language - and simultaneously, at the beginning of something.

 

Look for more updates about The Language Archive as Season 8 gets underway! The Language Archive will begin on February 16th and run until March 10th, 2012.