Theater review<\/h2>\n
\u201cWish you were here\u201d may be a platitude \u2014 perhaps scrawled on a postcard from somewhere far away \u2014 but it\u2019s also, in its heart, a plea, particularly when it comes to friends who are more like family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Such are the friends in Sanaz Toossi\u2019s joyful, powerful \u201cWish You Were Here,\u201d now running at ArtsWest in a coproduction with Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble and directed with surgical tenderness by Seda co-founder Naghmeh Samini.<\/p>\n
We meet them en masse, howling with laughter: Salme (Newsha Farahani), a devout, devoted friend and the first of the group to get married; Zari (Shereen Khatibloo), a spacey sweetheart; intense aspiring doctor Shideh (Mahshad Zareeizadeh); Nazanin (Ainaz Azarhoush), an acerbic engineering student; and the effortlessly cool Rana (Parmida Ziaei), the latter two of whom make a pact to stay single and never have children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWish You Were Here\u201d takes place over 13 years in Karaj, Iran, beginning in 1978 right before the start of the Islamic Revolution, through the Iran-Iraq War and into the Gulf War. It\u2019s also the start of these women\u2019s adult lives \u2014 the first scene is set on Salme\u2019s wedding day \u2014 and the play sees them through changes both monumental and inevitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Toossi writes wrenchingly ordinary scenes (if you\u2019ll forgive an oxymoron) because she never fails to trust her audience, and finds external sources \u2014 in this play\u2019s case, brief radio dispatches between scenes \u2014 to provide necessary context without forcing it unnaturally into dialogue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She paints an affectionate portrait of female friendship, whether these women are painting each other’s nails and talking about sex, or complaining about mothers-in-law and talking about sex. \u201cNo judging\u201d is a common refrain, someone is usually being (lovingly!) made fun of and someone always has to pee.<\/p>\n
As Iran reels, \u201cWish\u201d focuses on daily realities, both frustrating and comforting in their relentlessness. Yes, people still play backgammon and get their periods as bombs drop on their city. Yes, war is happening in these women\u2019s lives, but it isn\u2019t the story of their lives. As they navigate the shifting allegiances within their friend group, they\u2019re also navigating uncertain political realities. Should they go back to school, now that the universities have reopened? Should they leave the country?<\/p>\n
\u201cWish You Were Here\u201d premiered off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 2022, just a few months after the off-Broadway premiere of Toossi\u2019s play \u201cEnglish,\u201d which would go on to earn her the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. (Seda and ArtsWest also coproduced an excellent \u201cEnglish\u201d in 2024<\/a>.)<\/p>\n