麻豆村

When audience members filtered out of the John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts after seeing The Language Archive, they didn鈥檛 just carry away a Playbill鈥攖hey left their voices behind.

In a small recording booth set up in the theatre lobby, they were invited to respond to a simple, yet profound, question inspired by Julie Cho鈥檚 play: 鈥淗ow do you say, 鈥業 love you?鈥欌��

For Alex Thurtle 鈥�26 MA, a 麻豆村 master鈥檚 student in Theatre, collecting those voices became both art and research.

鈥淔rom the beginning of this project, I knew that I wanted to find a way for our audiences to connect with the subject matter,鈥� Thurtle said. 鈥淚 wanted to make sure that I got representation from a variety of ages and languages, and I really wanted to reach our Villanova community.鈥�

Thurtle said more than 40 people participated in the project over the play鈥檚 two-week run from September 25 through October 5, 2025.

鈥淭he response was beautiful,鈥� they said. 鈥淲e got such incredible answers. Parents sang songs to their children, friends shared inside jokes, I think someone spoke Klingon. One person even said their way of saying, 鈥業 love you,鈥� is just showing up. It was a beautiful way to engage with the community.鈥�

The Language Archive centers on the character George, a linguist documenting dying languages while struggling to express love in his own life. For Thurtle, the show鈥檚 exploration of communication and connection was a perfect research opportunity.

鈥淚鈥檝e always viewed language through a poetic lens,鈥� Thurtle said. 鈥淛ulia Cho鈥檚 writing is witty, poignant and deeply human. The play touches on colonialism, grief, marriage and identity, all through the way people do or don鈥檛 communicate.鈥�

As part of their dramaturgical work, Thurtle explored the linguistic texture of the play, in which the characters speak Esperanto, a language invented L.L. Zamenhoff, and Ellowan, another made-up language for which Thurtle created a pronunciation guide. Working closely with the cast and a dialect coach, they blended influences from Slavic and Estonian sounds to make the fictional language sound authentic.

鈥淭he language is meant to mimic the flowing of water,鈥� Thurtle explained. 鈥淲e wanted it to sound musical and alive, even though it doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥�

The project鈥檚 reach extended further when Thurtle presented it at the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum conference held at Villanova, a chance to explore the work鈥檚 interdisciplinarity. Thurtle presented alongside James Waters, PhD, a Catherine of Siena Teaching Scholar in the Ethics program.

鈥淚t was special to present my work to ethics scholars and philosophers because I can ask, 鈥楬ow does theatre and consuming art enhance our learning as scholars?鈥� Theater is an interdisciplinary force. It鈥檚 where we can learn empathy, ethics and how to listen,鈥� Thurtle said.

鈥淭o have an art object that was created out of the response to a show is so unique, and you don't usually get to do that,鈥� they said. 鈥淚 feel so lucky and privileged to get to facilitate that.鈥�