WISH YOU WERE HERE Makes West Coast Premiere At South Coast Repertory

South Coast Repertory will bring the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Orange County native Sanaz Toossi home with the West Coast premiere of her comedy Wish You Were Here. Directed by Mina Morita, Wish You Were Here runs Jan. 12-Feb. 2, 2025 on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

Wish You Were Here comes to SCR the same time Toossi's play, English, makes it's Broadway debut at the Roundabout Theatre Company, Jan. 3-March 2, 2025.

Toossi attended SCR's Youth Conservatory before going to college at UC Santa Barbara and graduate school at New York University. She appeared in two productions of A Christmas Carol as Martha Cratchit, and two Summer Players productions. She later worked as an assistant in the Education Department, as an intern in the Literary Department, a production assistant for the Pacific Playwrights Festival and served as an assistant director for several Players productions.

“Wish You Were Here is playwriting at its finest. A gem crafted by Orange County native Sanaz Toossi, and a beautiful addition to our season of work,” Ivers said. “Audiences can expect to laugh even as they are moved by this transformational play. Sanaz writes a personal journey shaped by deep, intimate relationships, ever-enduring and universal truths—all in response to the Iranian Revolution. I'm so excited to share her work with you.”

Appel said “Wish You Were Here beautifully captures the strength and intimacy of female friendship. The confidences Toossi's characters share will be recognizable to women from every corner of the world. Toossi's 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 Pulitzer Prize winner's 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. 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. In this enlightened comedy, Toossi chronicles a decade of life, as best friends become friends long lost, searching for the bond that once defined them.”

Toossi wrote Wish You Were Here as a love letter to her mother, who emigrated to the United States in the 1980s, after the Iranian Revolution. A comedy, it deftly mixes hilarious moments with poignancy and loss. Her characters speak with a boldness and revealing nature, inviting audiences into private moments, then subtly guiding them through a range of emotions that illustrate the complexity of friendship.

“The ink on this love letter feels like it is written from Sanaz's own veins,” Morita said. “She has poured her heart and care into this tribute to her mother, and it is an honor to be invited to direct Wish You Were Here. The women of this world are glorious, brash, and full of life. What they seek and how they love is larger than the time that has passed between us. I feel a profound love and responsibility for each woman and for how Sanaz's and her mother's world is wrought onstage. It is important to me that Sanaz and her mother are proud of this production taking place in their hometown.”

The Playwright

An Iranian-American playwright, Toossi won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for English. She had originally planned to go to law school, but changed her mind after attending SCR's 2013 production of 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog.

“I thought about it every day for, like, a whole year. I was like, ‘These are actual people.' I thought I could never be a playwright because playwriting is about showing people that you're smart—that's what I always thought it was,” she told American Theatre.

“Sanaz has a long and wonderfully diverse history with SCR and it has been one of the true joys of my career to have witnessed her growth as a person and theatre artist over many years,” SCR Conservatory and Educations Program Director Hisa Takakuwa said. “More than any specific moment, what I remember most is watching her grow in confidence and claiming her voice and path. She has always been a storyteller, a wordsmith and a writer, but to begin to claim that publicly, to make the decision to go to NYU, to commit to her calling as a writer/creator, watching that over the years has been truly beautiful to behold.”

Toossi is currently under commission at SCR, Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Manhattan Theatre Club. She was the 2019 P73 Playwriting Fellow and a recipient of the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Award, Hull-Warriner Prize, Outer Critics Circle Award and the 2023 Obie Award for Best New American Play.

The Director

A celebrated director of new plays, Morita was recently awarded the Wooly Mammoth BOLD Resident Director & Creative Producer position as part of the BOLD Theatre Women's Leadership Circle. She has directed works by Qui Nguyen, Anna Deavere Smith, Dipika Guha, Lauren Gunderson, Christopher Chen, Dave Harris, Star Finch, Isaac Gomez, Lloyd Suh and Dustin Chinn, among others. Morita's theatre credits include helming productions at Australia's National Theatre of Parramatta and La Boite, Guthrie Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, Campo Santo, Bay Area Children's Theatre and Crowded Fire Theatre Company, among others.

Her awards include the inaugural FrontOffice Mid-Career Director's Award, Theatre Bay Area's 2014 Outstanding Direction of a Musical, recognition as a 40@40 member for her impact on Bay Area Theatre by Theatre Bay Area, and a Shellie Award for Best Director in 2018. Yale University recognized Morita as a Beinecke Fellow in 2022.

The Cast

Wish You Were Here features Sahar Bibiyan (Rana), Tara Grammy (Salme), Mitra Jouhari (Zari), Nazanin Nour (Nazanin) and Artemis Pebdani (Shideh).

It is an accomplished cast beyond the stage. Bibiyan (Instagram handle @saharbibiyan) has appeared in Uncut Gems, “Mr. Robot,” “Little America,” “Chicago Justice,” and “Bull.” She is also the voice of Diman in the video game Just Cause 3 and appeared in the Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theatre and Berkeley Repertory productions of English and Yale Repertory's production of Wish You Were Here.

Grammy is a host of “Persia's Got Talent,” part of the “Got Talent” franchise. She also starred in the romantic comedy, A Simple Wedding, alongside Maz Jobrani and Rita Wilson. Her theatre credits include English at Studio Theatre and The Old Globe.

Jouhari is a writer/actor/comedian who has performed sold-out comedy shows all over the country. Her on-screen and voice acting credits include “Abbott Elementary,” “I Think You Should Leave,” “The Bear,” “Broad City,” “Clone High,” The Big Sick, “Search Party,” “Digman” and “The History of the World, Part II.”

Nour served as a judge on “Persia's Got Talent,” along with roles in “Big Mouth,” “Madam Secretary,” “Political Animals,” and A Thousand Little Cuts. She co-wrote and starred in Amazon Prime's All Of You and co-starred in the short film The Last King, the first Persian language adaptation of a Stephen King story. Nour is the host of the hit digital variety show, “Mehmooni with Nazanin.” Her theatre credits include the Studio Theatre's and Barrington Stage Company's production of English and Playwrights Horizons' Off-Broadway production of Wish You Were Here.

Pebdani's credits include playing Artemis in “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Vice President Susan Ross on “Scandal,” and recurring roles in “The Goldbergs,” “Modern Family,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and “Masters of Sex,” among others. She has performed voiceover work in Disney Channel's “Big City Greens,” Hulu's “The Croods: Family Tree,” and on “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” Pebdani (@therealsmartemis) returns to the role of Shideh, which she played in Wish You Were Here at Playwrights Horizons.

The Creative Team

The 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.

Wish You Were Here received generous support from Tim and Marianne Kay/Argyros Family Foundation. SCR's cultural partner is the Farhang Foundation.

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. More information is available at www.scr.org.

Special Events

• Post-Show Discussions: 

• Actor Conversations with members of the cast: Sunday, Jan. 19, Wednesday, Jan. 22, and Friday, Jan. 31.
• Community Conversation, a presentation and discussion surrounding a theme specific to Wish You Were Here: Sunday, Jan. 26

• Inside the Season: Saturday, Jan. 25, from 10:30 a.m.-noon. Led by members of SCR's literary staff, this lively 90-minute session includes in-depth interviews with cast members and artists from the production staff, revealing secrets and offering insights into Wish You Were Here. Tickets are $14 and may be purchased in advance or at the door.
• ASL Interpreted Performance: Saturday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.

Location: 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.

2024-25 Upcoming Productions: Hershey Felder's Rachmaninoff and The Tsar, Feb. 19, March 2, 2025; Hershey Felder's Great American Songbook Sing-Along, March 3, 2025; The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Feb. 28-March 16, 2025; You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!, April 5-May 3, 2025; The Staircase, April 27-May 18, 2025. The annual showcase of new works, the Pacific Playwrights Festival, runs May 2-4, 2025.

Complete information is available at www.scr.org.

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