Masquers Playhouse Presents The Language Archive August 2023
Masquers Playhouse presents The Language Archive
Show Dates: August 11, 2023 - September 3, 2023
Looking to brush up on your Esperanto? Make sure to buy a ticket for the romantic parable The Language Archive at Masquers Playhouse.
This summer’s production offers theatergoers a rare chance to learn a phrase or two of this little-used international tongue. The lesson comes from George, a scholar of the dead or dying languages of far-off cultures but at a loss for words in his own time and place, especially the vocabulary of the heart.
During the show, George gives the audience a short lesson in Esperanto. He runs through verb tenses for “I love.” His pronunciation is good, his comprehension is not.
Director Wynne Chan is no stranger to the intricacies of language. She grew up speaking Cantonese and English, and while fluent in both, still struggles to translate between the two languages because the cultural context is so different. “‘I love you’ technically exists in both languages, but in Cantonese, it's a concept, not a phrase you'd directly say to a loved one,” she said. “This play explores communication and language, and how, sometimes, two people who love each other lack the words to tell the other what they need to hear.”
The production features an ensemble of the following talented actors: Austine de los Santos as George, Samantha Topacio as Emma, Sarah Catherine Chan as Mary, Pauli Amornkul as Alta (plus other characters), Joey Alvarado as Resten (plus other characters) and Will Livingston as understudy for George.
