Tom Hanks Celebrates Play Opening with Meryl Streep, Martin Short and More Stars

The stars were out on Tuesday, Nov. 18 to support Tom Hanks at the opening of his new play, This World of Tomorrow.

Meryl Streep, Martin Short, Steve Martin (with his wife Anne Stringfield), Katie Holmes and Chris Lowell were among the famous faces who attended the milestone evening at The Shed’s Griffin Theater in New York City.

It was also a family affair, with Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson and their son, Chet Hanks, in the audience.

Many posed for photos together backstage after the performance, before attending an afterparty with the show’s cast.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The drama, which follows the lonely scientist from the future who travels back in time to the 1939 World’s Fair in Queens in search of love, is playing an eight-week limited run through Dec. 21.

Hanks, 69, is starring in This World of Tomorrow opposite Tony winner Kelli O’Hara, as well as Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jay O. Sanders, Kerry Bishé, Kayli Carter, Lee Aaron Rosen, Jamie Ann Romero, Paul Murphy, Donald Webber Jr., and Michelle Wilson.

The two-time Oscar winner also co-wrote the play with James Glossman. The two previously collaborated on 2022’s Safe Home, a stage piece also based on stories from Hanks’s 2017 book, Uncommon Type.

This is Hanks’ first stage role since his 2013 Broadway debut in Lucky Guy, which earned him a Tony nomination. And just because he helped write the play doesn’t mean its been easier for him to remember his lines.

“I disappeared the other night, as a matter of fact,” Hanks admitted during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday, Nov. 3, joking that O’Hara and Santiago-Hudson “all just kind of look at me and go, ‘Come on, man. I learned my lines, haven’t you learned yours?’ ”

Asked if it felt different to act in something he’d penned himself, Hanks joked, “Yes it is. No. 1 because, they are gonna have a real hard time firing me if I screw up.”

But he went on to explain that while co-writing the play with Glossman has been “a pleasure and a joy,” it’s also “as terrifying a situation I’ve ever had.”

“The huge difference between film and stage is, in film the director is the governor of the story. He can change it, not say it, don’t say that, say this instead,” explained Hanks. “The stage, if it’s not on the page, it ain’t on the stage. The writers are the definitive arbiters of what is being said.”

That gives Hanks pressure to make sure every word is right. “You have a discussion and say, ‘Okay, what sounds better — ‘Hey guys, we better get going because we have a problem,’ or, ‘Hey guys, we better get going because we have a situation?’ ” he said, noting how nervous those decisions make him. “You just wake up and go, ‘Problem? Situation? Problem? Situation?’ ”

Hanks and Glossman have been working with Shed to develop This World of Tomorrow over the past year.

“It will be a joy to experience Tom leading the cast on stage in this time-traveling adventure of the limitless power of love and the distance one is willing to go for it,” director Kenny Leon said back in May, when the production was announced. “This story explores a fascinating tale of the echoes of past generations, the often-surprising collisions between them, and what is carried forward with an authentic humor I can’t wait to bring to life.”

Tickets to This World of Tomorrow are now on sale.