THREE WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL

In 1978, five women gather in an upper-middle-class home in Karaj, Iran, to primp and prepare themselves; one of them is getting married and being that they are her closest friends, the others are there to make sure she is at her best, both aesthetically and emotionally. It’s a scene of raunchy jokes, complaints about the heat, and good-natured ribbing on the part of all the participants, but on closer look, one detects a strained aspect to their jollity. There are an anxiety and fear that is being suppressed. A subject that is being avoided. Outside the walls of their home, protests are breaking out across Iran. The Iranian revolution is slowly gaining steam, the universities have been closed, and the bubble that protects our characters is increasingly vulnerable to the shifting political winds.

Tina Arfee, Yourtana Sulaiman, Gloria Imseih Petrelli, Joan Nahid, Shadee Vossoughi

This scene with its multiple layers and subtexts forms the exquisite opening of Wish You Were Here by Pulitzer winner, Sanaz Toossi (English), in a production from the Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and performed at Theatre Wit. Lauren M. Nichols’ set is a wonderfully warm and welcoming living room, with comfortable furniture, and bright accents. The women are dressing for the wedding of Salme (a luminous Gloria Imseih Petrelli). It’s hot and humid and they bicker over the one fan while fixing themselves. Dirty jokes abound, and my word, are they dirty. I’ve read Satrapi’s Embroideries so the bawdy humor did not come as a surprise but these ladies had me blushing like a schoolboy.

Shadee Vossoughi and Gloria Imseih Petrelli

The play follows a simple structure of short scenes through the ten odd years that follow this first event, each year being projected on a beam across the top of the set. As the Islamic Revolution progresses, the relationships between the women deepen and change in ways that none of them could have expected. What’s most remarkable about this play is how Toossi never brings the political to the foreground, except at the very end. These characters, standing in for all the women in Iran, have had their world upended in irreversible ways. Trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy is how they can assert at least some ownership in a situation where broader control of their lives has been wrenched away from them. As the years go by, we see how their blithe optimism at the beginning gives way to practicality as they look for ways to escape the situation, or in one case curdles into cynicism. The jokes wither away and anger and resentment surfaces. Who can you lash out at, if not your nearest and dearest.

Gloria Imseih Petrelli and Shadee Vossoughi

Toossi is so confident in her writing and her dialog that she even gets away with muting herself: an astonishing scene midway features two of the women at either end of the set while a third prays in between them for a couple of minutes. It’s a tour de force of writing, direction, and performance; forced into silence by the moment, two characters are left alone with their thoughts — thoughts which play out on their faces, revealing the turmoil roiling their insides. After forty minutes of rapid-fire dialogue, we finally get a glimpse within. I wanted to burst into applause when the scene ended.

Gloria Imseih Petrelli and Shadee Vossoughi

Director Azar Kazemi is in full control of this production, skillfully managing the shifts from humor to pathos and back and she extracts uniformly terrific performances from her fantastic cast. The five actors play off each other beautifully — a few minutes into the show, their alliances, personalities, and the pecking order in their relationships are beautifully established. With no disrespect to the other three performers — really, all five are perfect — I must single out two performances; one because it’s the heart of the show and the other because it surprised me.

Shadee Vossoughi and Joan Nahid

Shadee Vossoughi as Nazanin is shattering. It’s an incredibly difficult part. Nazanin, of all of her friends, sees what’s coming most clearly and when they—in a sense of self-preservation — ignore her concerns, she reacts by withdrawing, hardening herself, and building up her walls as the years go by. It’s a prickly, uncomfortable performance. In the hands of a lesser actor, Nazanin might come off as unlikeable, but Vossoughi is so incredibly expressive, even physically (you can sense the tension in her body), that we see the fear behind her demeanor. Nazanin has a shockingly cruel moment late in the play and it’s to Vossoughi’s credit that by that point, you understand exactly why she’s doing it, and forgive her for it. At least, I did.

Tina Arfee, Gloria Imseih Petrelli, Shadee Vossoughi and Yourtana Suliaman

If Nazanin is the de facto center of the group, Zari — a silly, flighty girl, obsessed with marriage and fripperies — should be on its fringe but in Yourtana Sulaiman’s keenly observed portrayal, she reveals layers of shading and complexity that make her, in some regards, the most fascinating character in the play. Zari evolves to meet the moment, revealing a flinty practicality and matter-of-factness that come as a very pleasant surprise. More impressively, Sulaiman pulls this off without fundamentally changing the character. Zari is still flighty and obsessed with marriage and fripperies, there’s just more to her than any of her friends thought existed. Her confrontation with Nazanin is a brilliant bit of acting (and writing), and Vossoughi’s stunned response is perfect.

Shadee Vossoughi, Gloria Imseih Petrelli, Yourtana Sulaiman and Joan Nahid

It’s not hard to understand why Remy Bumppo would choose to produce this play now. It’s timely. But even though the swiftness of societal change depicted is — and should be — anxiety-inducing, the show still leaves us with a sense of hope. Toossi saves her political speech for the very last scene in the play, and even there, she frames it purely in a personal context. It’s a powerful, moving, and sentimental monologue.

I’m usually not a fan of sentimentality, but in the case of Wish You Were Here, it’s well earned.

Tina Arfee, Yourtana Sulaiman, Shadee Vossoughi, Gloria Imseih Petrelli, Joan Nahid

photos by Michael Brosilow

Wish You Were Here
Remy Bumppo Theatre Company
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
100 minutes with no intermission
ends on October 19, 2025
Thurs-Sat at 7:30; Sun at 2:30;
Thurs at 2:30 (Sept 25 and Oct. 9); Sat at 2:30 (Oct. 4 & 18)
for tickets ($15-$55), visit Remy Bumppo

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

Tina Arfee, Shadee Vossoughi, Gloria Imseih Petrelli, Joan Nahid, Yourtana Sulaiman