Salme’s getting married and her four best friends get her ready in a flurry of tulle and teasing about the wedding night ahead. But it’s 1978 in Karaj, on the eve of the Iranian Revolution, and over the next decade everything changes for these tightknit friends, their country, and the futures they find for themselves. In another moment of upheaval in Iran, Sanaz Toossi (English) brings her trademark wit, insight, and more than a few dirty jokes to this story of diaspora from the people who stay.
Wish You Were Here is generously underwritten by Albert Lauber and Craig Hoffman & Teresa and Dan Schwartz.
Sanaz Toossi is an Iranian-American playwright and the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Her plays include ENGLISH, which was nominated for 5 Tony Awards, (Broadway: Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theater; Off-Broadway: co-production Atlantic Theater Company/Roundabout Theatre Company, The Wallis Annenberg), and WISH YOU WERE HERE (Playwrights Horizons; Williamstown/Audible). She is currently under commission at Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club and South Coast Repertory. Sanaz 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 in 2023, the recipient of the Best New American Play Obie Award. Recent TV credits include ADULTS (FX). MFA: NYU Tisch. Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.
Sivan Battat (she/they) is a theatre director & cultural organizer. Sivan began their career here at Studio Theatre, as an Artistic Apprentice. Recent credits include Problems Between Sisters and Heroes of the Fourth Turning at Studio Theatre, In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot at Playwrights Horizons, Empty Ride at The Old Globe, Wish You Were Here at Yale Repertory Theatre, Layalina at Goodman Theatre, Angels in America at NYU Tisch Grad Acting, Coexistence My Ass at Edinburgh Fringe, and assistant directing the Broadway production of Trouble in Mind. Sivan has developed work with companies including Roundabout Theatre Company, Park Avenue Armory, New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theater Company, Ars Nova, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, New Georges, New York Stage and Film, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Long Wharf Theatre, MCC Theater, page 73, and more. Fellowships include Roundabout Directing Fellow, Drama League Directing Fellow, TCG Rising Leaders of Color & The Workshop. Centering the work of JOCISM (Jews of Color, Jewish-Indigenous, Sephardi & Mizrahi) artists & culture-makers. Sivanbattat.com
Ellen Nikbakht is making their Studio Theatre debut. Their Off Broadway credits include No Singing in the Navy (Playwrights Horizons). Select regional credits include La Cage aux Folles (Pasadena Playhouse), Love All (La Jolla Playhouse), Into the Woods and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), and Fun Home (Kansas City Repertory Theatre). Their television credits include Best Medicine (Fox) and Margo's Got Money Troubles (Apple TV). They hold an MFA from UC San Diego. On social media @koochoooloooo.
Layan Elwazani’s Broadway and national tour credits includeThe Band’s Visit. Her Off Broadway credits include Cold War Choir Practice (MCC Theater), Titans (Clubbed Thumb), and The Antiquities (Playwrights Horizons). Select regional credits include Noura (Guthrie Theater), We Live in Cairo (American Repertory Theater), and The Antiquities (Goodman Theater). Layan is a writer and solo artist. She is a two-time Brown Arts Institute artist grant recipient for her solo show Ten Days Ago, a semi-autobiographical, fully neurodivergent realization of a Palestinian legacy in modern-day America. Her televisions credits include The Code (CBS) and Furious (Hulu). Her MFA in Acting is from Brown/Trinity. LayanElwazani.com.
Ellena Eshraghi is an actor, writer, and filmmaker. Her theatre credits include Hound Dog (Ars Nova), Erastes (wild project), The Mall The Mall The Mall (The Tank), Refugee Rhapsody (Contemporary American Theater Festival), and Wish You Were Here (Yale Repertory Theatre). Her film credits include Mean Girls (2024). She is currently in post-production for her film My Least Favorite Shape. ellenaeshraghi.com. On social media @ellenaesh.
Shadee Vossoughi is an actor and improviser. Her theater credits include the Broadway production of English (Roundabout Theatre Company, understudy). Regional credits include English (Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Alley Theatre, and Denver Center for the Performing Arts [Henry Award for Outstanding Production of a Play]). Additional theater credits include Wish You Were Here (Yale Repertory Theatre and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company) and Selling Kabul (Northlight Theatre). Television credits include The Bear (FX), The Big Leap (FOX), and Chicago Med (NBC). She was a recipient of the Bob Curry Fellowship at The Second City Chicago, where her sketch comedy credits include Urban Twist, Black History Month Show, and the Bob Curry Fellowship Showcase. On social media @shadeev (Instagram).
Ari Derambakhsh is an actress based between NYC and LA. She recently appeared Off Broadway in The Bookstore (59E59 Theaters). Additional theatre credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (Guthrie Theater), Pride and Prejudice (Cleveland Play House), English (The Old Globe and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), and Twelfth Night at Shakespeare's Globe. She has also worked with The Kennedy Center, New Jersey Repertory Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Fault Line Theatre, The Playwrights Realm, Amphibian Stage, and others. Ari makes her feature film debut in 109 Billion Followers opposite J.K. Simmons, and her TV debut in The Savant on AppleTV. She voices Blue Sapphire in the animated series Rainbow Bubblegem. Ari received her BFA in Acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and trained at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. arideram.com. On social media at @arideram.
Ege Yalcinbas is an actor and singer-songwriter. Her recent theatre credits include Pressure at ExPats Theatre and Hair at Vagabond Players. Ege also releases original music under her recording artist moniker aegea: linktr.ee/aegeamezzo. On social media @aegeamezzo.
Omid Akbari is an Iranian-born scenic designer and costume concept artist based in NYC. He holds an MFA in Theater Design from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. His recent credits include Primary Trust at Weston Theater Company; English at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts; Gem of the Ocean and Unbecoming Tragedy: A Ritual Journey Toward Destiny at Long Wharf Theatre; A Moment of Silence at McCarter Theatre Center; Hamlet, Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions, and Three Tall Persian Women at Shakespeare and Company; Iraq, But Funny at Lookingglass Theatre Company; The Life You Gave Me at Boise Contemporary Theater; The Seven at Juilliard; and Wish You Were Here at Yale Repertory Theatre. He was the associate creative director of MIGUEL-CAOS World Tour. www.omidakbari.com
Shahrzad Mazaheri is a costume designer whose work spans theatre, opera, and dance. Recent costume design credits include Sleuth (Guthrie Theater), Safety Not Guaranteed and In Clay (Signature Theatre DC), My Favorite Sociopath and ¡VOS! (Contemporary American Theater Festival), and English (Alley Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Guthrie Theater). Her regional work includes productions at Trinity Rep, South Coast Repertory, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. shahrzadmazaheri.com On social media @scheherezade.mzr.
Nic Vincent is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer specializing in theatre, dance, and opera. He has designed award-winning productions Off Broadway and regionally across North America. He is drawn to work that inspires hope. Recent Off Broadway credits include designs at Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, Theatre Row, 59E59 Theaters, Mabou Mines, The Flea Theater, New Ohio Theatre, New York Live Arts, and Rattlestick Theater. Regional credits include designs at The Guthrie Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Geva Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, People’s Light, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Portland Opera, and Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera. His other work includes Sasha Velour’s NightGowns (Quibi). He holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and is a member of USA 829 and ADC 659. nicvincent.com. @nicjvincent.
Doaa Ouf is a NYC-based multidisciplinary artist from Cairo, Egypt, working at the intersection of projection design, directing, and producing for theater. Her work has been seen on and Off Broadway, regionally and internationally. Her recent credits include Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway; Alicia Keys’s Hell’s Kitchen National Tour; America, Who Hurt You? at Theatre for a New Audience; Steve Burns: Alive at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; A Walk on the Moon at Roundabout Theatre Company; and Disney’s Adventure Cruise Line. She holds a Projection Design MFA from Yale University. doaaouf.com
Kenny Neal is a Helen Hayes Award-winning sound designer, composer, and arranger. His recent DC theatre credits include Downstate and English (Studio Theatre);The Last Match (1st Stage); Precarious and Private (Mosaic Theater Company); Strategic Love Play and Job (Signature Theatre); Sojourners and The Seafarer (Round House Theatre); A Nice Indian Boy and Dance Nation (Olney Theatre Center); Becoming Dr. Ruth (Theater J); Lie Low (Solas Nua); Much Ado About Nothing and The Moors (Faction of Fools); Pramkicker and Mom Baby God (Taffety Punk Theatre Company); and Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really and She Kills Monsters (Rorschach Theatre). Upcoming work includes Betrayal at 1st Stage. He is currently a resident artist at Adventure Theatre MTC.
Adrien-Alice Hansel is the Literary Director at Studio, where she oversees new work development, supports season planning, and has served as the dramaturg on roughly 70 plays, including world premieres of Good Bones, John Proctor is the Villain, I Hate it Here, Red Speedo, and Lungs, among others, and productions of Purlie Victorious; The Heart Sellers; Summer, 1976; The Colored Museum; Fun Home; English; Curve of Departure; Wig Out!; and The New Electric Ballroom. Her recent freelance work includes projects for Solas Nua, Musical Theatre Factory, and Young Artists of America. Prior to joining Studio, she spent eight seasons as a member of and then running the Literary Department at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and its Humana Festival of New American Plays. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
John Keith Hall's previous Studio credits include Purlie Victorious; Octet; Downstate; Summer, 1976; Exception to the Rule; The Colored Museum; At the Wedding; Fun Home; Bad Jews; Choir Boy; Water by the Spoonful; Tribes; Torch Song Trilogy; 4000 Miles; In the Red and Brown Water; The History Boys; and The Road to Mecca. Other DC area credits include productions at Theater J, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Signature Theatre, and The Kennedy Center. His regional credits include more than 40 productions as Resident Stage Manager at the Barter Theatre as well as Shadowlands Stage, Virginia Musical Theatre, and Contemporary American Theatre Festival.
Katja Zarolinski, CSA is serving at the Studio Theatre NYC Casting Director for the 2026/2027 season. Katja is a New York-based casting director handling productions for theater, film and television. Previous casting work includes Broadway, off Broadway and regional productions at Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Barrington Stage Company, Cape Playhouse, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, City Theatre Company, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Crossroads Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Goodspeed Musicals, Guthrie Theater, Irish Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Mosaic Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh CLO, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Rep, Shakespeare & Company, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre (DC), South Coast Repertory, TheaterWorks Hartford, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Theatre Festival, and many more.
