In this enlightened theatrical piece, Sanaz Toossi chronicles over a decade of life, as best friends become friends long lost, searching for the bond that once defined them.
COSTA MESA—JANUARY 17, 2025
South Coast Repertory presents, the West Coast premiere of WISH YOU WERE HERE, by Pulitzer Prize-winning Orange County native, SANAZ TOOSSI.
Directed by celebrated award winner Mina Morita (FrontOffice Mid-Career Director’s Award, Theatre Bay Area’s 2014 Outstanding Direction of a Musical, Shellie Award for Best Director in 2018, Yale University Beinecke Fellow), WISH YOU WERE HERE is playwriting at its finest, and presented on the Julianne Argyros Stage through February 2nd.
Audiences can expect to both laugh and cry as they are moved by this transformational play. An Iranian-American playwright, Sanaz Toossi writes a personal journey shaped by deep, intimate relationships, ever-enduring and universal truths — all in response to the Iranian Revolution.
Beautifully capturing the strength and intimacy of female friendship, the confidences Ms. Toossi’s characters share will be recognizable to women from every corner of the world. Her writing is imbued with both her family’s history of emigration and the cultural inheritance of the great Persian poets. SCR’s production is a rare opportunity to see this extraordinary play at a time when her career is on the rise. In addressing Iran’s past, her work resonates deeply with all of us experiencing a rapidly changing world.
It’s 1978, and protests break out across Iran as five close girlfriends plan weddings, trade dirty jokes and try to live their young lives. As the revolution escalates, each woman is forced to face an uncertain future by staying in Iran or leaving it. Written as a love letter to the playwright’s mother, who emigrated to the United States in the 1980s after the Iranian Revolution, this dramedy deftly mixes hilarious moments with poignancy and loss. The characters speak with a boldness and revealing nature, inviting audiences into their most private moments, then subtly guides them through a range of emotions that encapsulates these meaningful relationships — raw intensity, confessions, heart-wrenching insecurities, desire and love — and illustrates the complexity of true friendship.
Awni Abdi-Bahri (Broadway: "POTUS or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive" - Shubert; Off-Broadway: in Persian Pod - Ars Nova; Bismillah - The Wild Project; and The Welcoming Committee - The Lark) plays the role of central character Nazanin, returning to SCR since appearing in the 2007 production of “A Christmas Carol” as a student of the SCR Theatre Conservatory. She joins Sahar Bibiyan (Rana) who has appeared in “Uncut Gems,” “Mr. Robot,” “Little America,” “Chicago Justice,” and “Bull.”
Tara Grammy (Salme), was host of “Persia’s Got Talent,” and has also starred in the romantic comedy, “A Simple Wedding,” alongside Maz Jobrani and Rita Wilson. Writer/actor/comedian Mitra Jouhari also stars as Zari, and has performed sold-out comedy shows all over the country, along with a long list of voice acting credits including “Abbott Elementary,” “I Think You Should Leave,” “The Bear,” “Digman,” and “The History of the World, Part II.”
Artemis Pebdani also returns to the role of headstrong, mother-hen figure, Shideh, whose credits include “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “The Goldbergs,” “Modern Family,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and has performed voiceover work in Disney Channel’s “Big City Greens,” Hulu’s “The Croods: Family Tree,” and on “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”
The show opens with these 20-somethings raucously attending to their soon-to-be-wed friend Salme as they spew sexual innuendos and hilarious punchlines while the threat of war, political turmoil and unrest hovers menacingly in the background. As they prance around the room defiantly and howl with laughter, they seemingly refuse to give up their youth and sisterhood to anyone. But when the political turmoil does rip apart these friendships later in the play, unwound further by abrupt departures, this whimsical marriage-preparation scene is a memory that haunts Nazanin as much as it haunts the viewers.
Shideh decides to leave for Med School in America. And when Salme dies in a water-related tragedy, Nazanin and Zari are the only two friends who remain in Iran. Years later, Zari finds Nazanin and tells her that she can help her obtain a green card because she, too, is leaving for America. Nazanin looks at Zari incredulously, but then tells her she should leave as well. Zari exits the stage, and she’s never mentioned again in the following scenes.
What could their abrupt exits signify? Is it the war, or simply fate that mercilessly steals friendships, opportunities and time away from us? The silence that follows exile? Whatever the answer may be, one thing is clear: no one lingers on their absences. Will these women come back? What does life look like in the absence of these women? There is only silence.
Though the political landscape of Iran motivates much of the plot –– considering Shideh and Zari’s pursuit for better opportunities in America and Nazanin’s decision not to return to school –– precise activities and political events are not mentioned specifically in the play. There is, however, a subdued undercurrent of a bodeful Iranian Revolution always present, suggesting an imminent and inevasible war, mainly depicted through rushed goodbyes, trepidation and given-up dreams.
Without a doubt, the flowers of this play are its heartbreaking dialogue. The lives of five women and their friendships reshaped and transformed throughout these 13 years. But what lingers in the soul of the play and the mind of the audience are the impressions, relationships, memories and plaintive dialogue of the characters.
As the only one remaining in Iran, Nazanin receives a sudden call from Rana, who disappeared in the beginning of the show. Instead of asking Rana where she is and why she left, Nazanin speaks with Rana as if they’re old friends catching up. They speak of marriage, child-rearing and Rana’s new job at Pizza Hut, which Nazanin is totally unfamiliar with. Finally, Nazanin can no longer shroud her heartstrings.
“Being your friend was my whole personality," Nazanin bursts out. "I miss being defined by who you were. In the long shadow of your existence, I found a home.” With emotional lines like these, Ms. Toossi articulates the amorphous, lump-in-our-throat feelings that arise when we miss close friends deeply, and realize that they are truly gone out of our lives –– and the directorial vision by Mina Morita executes this perception perfectly.
The production’s design and creative team includes Afsoon Pajoufar, scenic design; Shahrzad Mazaheri, costume design; Pablo Santiago, lighting design, and Veronika Vorel, sound design. Ana Bayat is the cultural dramaturg and dialect coach, Joanne DeNaut, CSA, is the casting director, Maisie Chan is the production manager, Darlene Miyakawa is the production stage manager, and Lauren Buangan is the assistant stage manager.
Tickets are now on sale and range in price from $35 to $114, with additional discounts available for educators, seniors and students. Tickets may be purchased online at www.scr.org or by phone at (714) 708-5555. 90 minutes with no intermission, South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Boulevard.
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
