Need HELP - researching 2 languages interacting on stage

The first one that comes to mind is The Light in the Piazza...part of the conflict is the American family and the Italian family's different values, coupled with the emotional immaturity of Clara and Fabrizio. Some of the numbers and dialogue are done completely in Italian, also.

Bette4 said: "Are there any shows where a main story point is that characters need to overcome a language barrier in order to communicate with each other... but is presented in a way where the audience isn't confused?"

The recent Deaf West production of Spring Awakening exploited the fact that some characters were monolingual in ASL, others monolingual in English, while others were bilingual in both languages. Sometimes the language difference was a barrier, as when the schoolmasters couldn't communicate with their deaf students.

The Miracle Worker does not involve two languages being used on stage, but the play is definitely about characters overcoming a language barrier of sorts.

These are great, thank you! Also-- any examples beyond Aida where the language issue was just ignored and everyone speaks English and the audience forgives it for the sake of the story?

This is a comedic example, but 'Dogg's Hamlet' by Tom Stoppard might count? It has a number of characters speaking in 'Dogg', which uses English words but assigns different meanings to each word. Context is used to make the 'Dogg' meaning of each word clear to the audience. Then somebody comes along who only speaks normal English, and confusion ensues (for characters, not audience).

Check out almost any Chicano (Mexican-American) play and you'll find a mixture of English, Spanish and Caló (Chicano slang). There's an excellent revival at the moment of Zoot Suit at the Mark Taper Forum in LA. Luis Valdez' play may be the best example of the genre.

My husband loved the production and he understands no Spanish at all.