Reading by 2019 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow Sanaz Toossi
Page 73 presents a reading of
Wish You Were Here
BY SANAZ TOOSSI
DIRECTED BY GT UPCHURCH
AT NEW OHIO THEATER
Thursday, November 21
Friday, November 22
ABOUT WISH YOU WERE HERE:
Wish You Were Here depicts the complex friendships among five women living in Karaj, Iran, from 1978 to 1991. As they bear witness to war, revolution, and tremendous cultural upheaval, each woman must decide for herself if she will emigrate or face an equally uncertain future at home.
SANAZ TOOSSI (Playwright) is the 2019 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow. She is an Iranian-American playwright from Orange County, CA. She holds an MFA in playwriting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she received the John Golden Award for excellence in playwriting. Her short play Baba Karam was read at the Atlantic Theater, where she is the recipient of the Launch commission. Her work is also being developed at South Coast Repertory and IAMA Theatre. Her play English was read as part of Roundabout Underground’s reading series. She is a member of Youngblood/EST and the Clubbed Thumb early career writers’ group. Sanaz is a proud child of immigrants.
GT UPCHURCH (Director) is a freelance director living in New York City. Her background is in dance. She has directed many world premieres including Clare Lizzimore’s Animal (Studio Theatre, DC); Laura Marks’s Bethany with America Ferrera (Women’s Project, Lortel nomination for Best New Play and Best Lead Actress and at Old Globe); Melissa Ross’s Of Good Stock (South Coast Rep). She has also directed the off-Broadway productions of Simon Stephens’s Harper Regan with Mary McCann (Atlantic Theater, NY Times Top Ten Production 2012); Simon Stephens’s Bluebird with Simon Russell Beale (Atlantic Theater); Lucy Thurber’s Stay (Rattlestick Theater, Obie Award for Hilltown Play Cycle) and Nancy Harris’s Our New Girl (Atlantic Theater). Her work has been seen at Culture Project, La Mama, Juilliard, and Lincoln Center Institute among others, and she has developed new work at New Dramatists, Playwrights Realm, NY Stage & Film, The Kennedy Center, Playwright’s Center, LCT Director’s Lab, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. She is an alumna of The Women’s Project Directors Lab, The Drama League and North Carolina School of the Arts. Upcoming: the world premiere of Anna Ziegler’s The Last Match (The Old Globe) and Chris Chen’s You Mean to do Me Harm (The Vineyard, NYC).
Funding Credits
Page 73’s productions are supported in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition, Page 73 receives major support from the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, and The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund.
