Wish You Were Here at Playwrights Horizons

The New York Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...Gaye Taylor Upchurch's direction tries to bring out the color of these women's personalities but collides with the limits of the script, which, squeezing 13 years into a 100-minute run, struggles to focus its lens and communicate the subtle dynamics among the friends. The characters lack context, beyond the very occasional mention of a fiance or child, and so their actions - which they always make outside of the isolation of this one living room - lack stakes. The sequence of marriages and the not-so-distant sirens of war turn up as transparent markers of progress, but they never believably penetrate the tiny bubble of time and space where these characters live."

TheaterMania - Recommended

"...Wish You Were Here is not an official companion piece to Toossi's English - the play that kicked off her banner year with a now-award-winning off-Broadway debut - but in many ways, it is English's counterpoint: While English took a snapshot of the resentment-filled emigration process where success means becoming a fish out of water, Wish You Were Here fixes its gaze on the lone fish left in the tank. Should we envy her for holding on to home long after so many have waved the white flag of surrender? That depends on whether you think of home as the water or the other fish who appreciate your filthy sense of humor."

TheaterScene.net - Highly Recommended

"...In the 13 years that span this earnest, thought-provoking play, three weddings, fear, war, and death all serve to test the strength and sanctity of these women's bonds. Toossi's script is intimate, and searching, both funny and heartbreaking; Wish You Were Here is a beautiful testament to the strengths and allegiances women find with each other in times of turmoil and oppression."

Theatrely - Highly Recommended

"...The play is still tenderly directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, with a lovely cast comprising Nikki Massoud, Nazanin Nour, Artemis Pebdani, and Roxanna Hope Radja, led by rising star Marjan Neshat, who also featured in Atlantic's English production. Though, to say led undermines the delicate humanity of Toossi's project-she does not reduce the other characters to "supporting players," hanging around for a protagonist's benefit. In both plays, Neshat is merely the one who stays the longest, be it in the classroom or in the hometown. Luckily for us, the actor's gorgeously enigmatic face is a treasure trove of stoicism and emotion-perfect for Toossi's tragicomic eye for the highs and lows of everyday life."

New York Stage Review - Recommended

"...If you crossed the now long-defunct television talk show Girl Talk with Euripides' Trojan Women, you probably wouldn't quite get Sanaz Toossi's Wish You Were Here. All the same, you might get something close to it. You might come up with a work during which five women friends chat about impending weddings and just about everything else women chat about, even as a war - the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war - is making noise in the not too far distance."