‘It’s for everyone but also for us’: Remy Bumppo’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ examines Iranian women’s friendship

If Yourtana Sulaiman had made her 7th grade volleyball team, the Chicago actor might not be where she is today, co-starring in Remy Bumppo Theatre Company’s Chicago premiere of “Wish You Were Here.”

Sulaiman and her family had recently relocated to Skokie from Yonkers, New York, and the then-middle school student was looking for an activity. Denied her athletic ambitions, she auditioned for the school play and was cast.

“I took that as a sign the universe was on my side,” said Sulaiman with a laugh.

After earning a bachelor of fine arts in acting from the University of Illinois-Chicago, the Niles North High School graduate began working at city and suburban theaters.

“There’s always an opportunity to create something,” said Sulaiman, who is especially fond of storefront theater, where love of the craft inspires scrappy, resourceful, like-minded theater artists.

“This show is a good example of that,” she said of Pulitzer Prize-winner Sanaz Toossi’s play, which traces the lives of five Iranian women from the Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979 through the early 1990s.

The play examines how the women’s relationships evolve as they navigate grief, loss, change and immigration, said fellow cast member Preeti Thaker, who understudies the role of Salme.

“It’s a really beautiful play that’s funny, poignant and meets the moment about what it is to be human and grapple with these circumstances on a global scale,” said Thaker, who grew up in Wheaton and graduated from Glenbard South High School.

She recalled the first read-through was an emotional experience, not just for those who identify as Iranian, but for other brown people whose family members had to leave their country.

“People who feel culturally unseen were sharing a moment reading this beautiful play,” said Thaker, a first-generation Indian American who completed two years of medical school before leaving to pursue a career in theater. “It made people feel seen and it spoke to our experiences growing up.”

She believes the play has cross-cultural appeal, and says audiences will appreciate it even if they aren’t people of color.

“I’m glad this is a story that’s being shared,” she said. “It’s for everyone, but it’s also for us.”

“As brown women, Middle Eastern women specifically,” telling these kinds of stories “reminds us of the love, humanity, fierceness and wit we possess,” Sulaiman said.

What’s most compelling about Toossi’s play isn’t race or politics, she continues, it’s shared humanity.

Thaker, a classically trained Indian vocalist and Bharatanatyam dancer, says its themes are timeless.

It’s about “how we choose to remain connected through changes in life,” she said, “whether those changes are political, personal or all of the above.”

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“Wish You Were Here”

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 19. Also 2:30 p.m. Oct. 4.

Where: Remy Bumppo Theatre at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, (773) 975-8150, remybumppo.org

Tickets: $15-$55