bengal tiger discovery guide

6
8/11/2019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/bengal-tiger-discovery-guide 1/6 Welcome to Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Discovery Guide F Fresh from two critically acclaimed productions at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre and Mark Taper Forum, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo has arrived at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre starring Academy Award ®  winner Robin Williams. This remarkable play throws two homesick soldiers, a tormented Iraqi and a brooding tiger together and dares you not to look away from its honest and hauntingly theatrical depiction of the aftermath of war. Before we tell you more, take a moment and imagine what might happen when the above characters meet. How will they interact? How will they communicate? Can you picture the city of Baghdad through the eyes of an American soldier serving in Iraq? Can you imagine the soldiers through the eyes of their Iraqi translator? What is the experience of war for a tiger caged i n a zoo, 10 thousand miles from its original home?  Turn the page to explore Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo: the setting, subject matter and theatrical style. Think about Iraq—its location, history and language. Read an interview with playwright Rajiv Joseph discussing the craft of playwriting and his inspiration for writing Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Reflect on violence onstage and in life. Why use theatre to explore the aftermath of violence? Why use theatre to explore war? How might theatre and imagination help us better understand incomprehensible real life events?  Theatre raises questions and challenges audience members to discover their own answers. See what questions this information raises for you and what questions and answers the performance provides. Thank you so much for joining us for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. We look forward to seeing you at the theatre! It makes you wonder what’s going on on the other side of the cage. —Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

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Page 1: Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 16

Welcome toRajiv JosephsBengal Tiger at theBaghdad Zoo

Discovery Guide

FFresh from two critically acclaimedproductions at Center Theatre Groups KirkDouglas Theatre and Mark Taper ForumBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo has arrivedat Broadways Richard Rodgers Theatrestarring Academy Awardreg winner RobinWilliams This remarkable play throws twohomesick soldiers a tormented Iraqi and abrooding tiger together and dares you notto look away from its honest and hauntinglytheatrical depiction of the aftermath of war

Before we tell you more take a moment andimagine what might happen when the abovecharacters meet How will they interactHow will they communicate Can you picturethe city of Baghdad through the eyes of anAmerican soldier serving in Iraq Can youimagine the soldiers through the eyes of theirIraqi translator What is the experience ofwar for a tiger caged in a zoo 10 thousandmiles from its original home Turn the page to explore Bengal Tiger at theBaghdad Zoo the setting subject matterand theatrical style Think about Iraqmdashitslocation history and language Read an

interview with playwright Rajiv Josephdiscussing the craft of playwriting and hisinspiration for writing Bengal Tiger at theBaghdad Zoo

Reflect on violence onstage and in life Whyuse theatre to explore the aftermath ofviolence Why use theatre to explore war Howmight theatre and imagination help us betterunderstand incomprehensible real life events Theatre raises questions and challengesaudience members to discover theirown answers See what questions thisinformation raises for you and whatquestions and answers the performance

provides Thank you so much for joining usfor Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo We lookforward to seeing you at the theatre

It makes you wonder whatrsquos going onon the other side of the cagemdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

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WriterJulie Marie Myatt

Associate Directorof EducationDebra Piver

Teaching Artists inResidenceLynn ClarkLeslie IshiiMarcos NajeraOmar Ricks

ProofreaderMandy Ratliff

Graphic DesignerHaruka Hayakawa

BengalTiger atthe BaghdadZoo 1

Discovery Guide

Robin Williams

Im not the kind of person who does thisIt is not who I am mdashBengalTigerat the BaghdadZoo

Discovery Guide3

Interpreters

Gardens

According to the Biblersquos Book of Genesis the Garden of Edenwas located near four rivers the Pishon Gihon Tigris andEuphrates in ancient Mesopotamia which is modern IraqIn the story of Genesis God instructs Adam to tend to thisbeautiful garden but commands him not to eat from the Tree ofKnowledge of Good and Evil A serpent in the tree asks Eve whyshe avoids eating the fruit and Eve explains Godrsquos commandand that she will die if she eats it The serpent persuades her toeat a piece of fruit telling Eve that it will make her and Adamlike gods knowing good and evil Eve eats the fruit and whenAdam realizes what shersquos done he too eats the fruit so that hecan remain with Eve God casts them both out of the GardenThis story is often used as metaphor for the consequences ofknowledge good and evil

Why do you think that the playwright Rajiv Josephincludes references to gardens throughout his play Whatis he saying about knowledge and good and evil

The character Musa is proud of being a gardener because heis able to use his hands to create beauty and life rather thanviolence Much of that beauty is destroyed during the play

Do you think beauty can exist in the midst of a violentworld Can beauty outlast violence Where do you seebeauty in your own world Why is it important to continueto make or appreciate beauty in brutal times

Topiary

Topiary is the art of trimming living trees and shrubs intodecorative shapes The best trees and shrubs for topiary artare box trees cypress and yew rosemary shrubs holly andbox honey-suckle Topiary was practiced as early as the 1stcentury AD The art is thought to have evolved from the naturaland necessary trimming pruning and training of trees Theearliest topiary was probably the simple shaping of dwarf-boxedging and the development of cones columns and spiresof box trees to accent a garden scene This architectural usegave way to more elaborate designs shrubs were shaped intoships huntsmen and animals In the 18th century topiary wascalled the art of the tree barber but its practitioners call it theart of the tree mason and leafage sculptor Recently topiary ismaking a comeback in Baghdad

HeightenedTheatricality

A tiger who speaks and contemplates the existence ofGod A soldier who dies and returns a more intelligentghost The ghost of a tyrants son who appearscarrying his brothers head In the world of this playlife and death intermingle in a state of constant unrestCharacters are haunted by each other by their pastactions and by the violence of their present

Rajiv Josephrsquos play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

is based on real-life events but he has used artisticlicense to spin a tale full of surreal elements Whydo you think the playwright chose a heightenednon-realistic style to tell the story Does thetheatricality give you a different perspective thanif the story had been told in a more realistic wayHow does it impact your experience as an audiencemember

Violence

In this play the characters find themselves in cruel andviolent situations Characters are tortured and killedpeople lose their limbs their minds and their livesThe play explores what happens to people places andanimals in the aftermath of violence

What makes one capable of violence Is it innateor is it learned Is it different when an animalcommits a violent act than when a human doesWhat is the difference

What is the value of watching violence onstageHow might it help us reflect upon the violence inour own world How does witnessing the violencein the play and its impact on the charactersdeepen your understanding of the consequencesof violence and of war

Search ForAnswers

More questions are posed than answers given in thisplay ldquoWhere am Irdquo Why am I still hererdquo ldquoWhy amI not gonerdquo ldquoWhat happens now Godrdquo Charactersare searching for meaning trying to understandthemselves their actions and the violent wo rld they findthemselves in

How do humans try to make meaning of sufferingand violence Why do we ask questions andsearch for answers What is the power of askingquestions in the midst of violence What happenswhen we cannot find an answer or when it seemslike there are no answers

AA darkly comic and surreal story about Tom and Kev twomisguided young soldiers assigned to guard the Baghdad Zooduring the early days of the 2003 American invasion of IraqWhen Tom taunts the sole surviving Bengal Tiger with food theTiger bites off his hand prompting Kev to shoot the animalThe gun he uses to kill the Tiger is not just any gun itrsquos a goldgun that Tom stole from Uday Hussein son of dictator SaddamHussein during a raid The ghost of the Tiger starts to wanderthe streets of war-torn Baghdad caught in an existential hazeHe begins to haunt his killer Kev until Kev breaks down andtakes his life by severing his own hand Like the Tiger Kevbecomes a ghost and proceeds to haunt his buddy TomMeanwhile Musa once Uday Husseinrsquos gardener is trying toadapt to his new job as interpreter for the occupying Americanforces Musa is haunted by the ghost of Uday Hussein theman who raped and killed his little sister Hadia The gold gunbinds the men and the Tiger to Baghdadrsquos brutal past andits confused violent present The city has transitioned fromdictatorship to American occupation the young soldiers havetransformed from kids to killers the interpreter has turnedfrom gardener to traitor in his own land No one can makesense of the inhuman acts surrounding him Ghosts fill thestreets of Baghdad looking for answers in the midst of warand the Bengal Tiger joins American and Iraqi voices in asking

ldquoWhy am I hererdquo

IIt is estimated that since the second Gulf War began in 2003 more than 2 0000Iraqis have worked as interpreters for the American military and private securityfirms According to the Department of Defense some 5490 Iraqis were employedas interpreters Their job is to create the important bridge between the militaryand the local community paving the way for better communication in thehopes of a peaceful exchange between the two cultures While an interpreter jobprovides new opportunities for Iraqis the risks can often outweigh the gains ofemployment Working for the United States government is viewed by the majorityof the Iraqi people as working fo r the occupiers and interpreters are often viewedas traitors Many interpreters find their lives threatened Recently across theUnited States veterans of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan are taking upthe cause of their interpreters Veterans are creating a network of aid groups andbecoming personally involved as advocates in the immigration process a processthat can often take more than a year to complete At the beginning of 2008 nearly2000 interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan had applied to the State Departmentfor a Special Immigrant Visa which would allow them to enter the United StatesThis visa was created specifically for those Iraqi and Afghan nationals whose liveshave been threatened because of their work for United States forces Since thespecial visa for interpreters was created 1735 of these cases have been approvedthough it is unclear how many have actually come to the United States

In the play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo the character of Musa is aninterpreter who is trying to learn American slang so that he can better understandwhat the soldiers are saying around him both for his own safety and that of hisfellow Iraqis Musa is caught between the two cultures trying to use language asa bridge to understanding and clarity in an atmosphere of mistrust and violence

Have you ever had to be an interpreter in your life

What was it like to be the person between two languages two cultures

How might our understanding of Iraq and other Arab countries deepen ifwe spoke their language How can language be a bridge to bring differentgroups closer together

Have you ever managed to communicate with someone who did notspeak the same language as you How did you make your thoughtsand feelings known

What happens nowGod What happensnow that Irsquom intelligentand aware and sensitiveto the universe mdashBengalTigerat the BaghdadZoo

My hands belong to me And myhands have their own memoryAnd when I put them on a plantthey create something They willcreate something

mdashBengalTigerat the BaghdadZoo

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

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AssumptionsIraq It is a country that has been in the news for manyyears now It is a country that thousands of Americansoldiers have been deployed to And yet it remains a placethat many people in the United States know very littleabout Why do you think that is

Take a moment and picture Iraq What do you knowabout this country Where is it located What imagescome to mind when you think of Iraq Are yourimages primarily of war Can you picture Iraq outsidethe realm of war or violence Can you picture Iraqoutside of a relationship to the Unit ed States

What do you think it is like to be a teenager in IraqWhat do you think life is like for women in Iraq Canyou imagine Iraqi food music language sports orschools

What donrsquot you know about Iraq Is there somethingyou are curious to know about this country and itspeople If you could ask one question to one personin Iraqmdashwho would you want to talk to and what

would you want to know

What assumptions have you heard about Iraq and itspeople Do you share these ideas Do you think it iseasier to go to war with a country that we know verylittle about What might happen if Americans knewmore about Iraqrsquos culture and people

War

ldquoWar is a grave affair of state it is a place of life and deatha road to survival and extinction a matter to be ponderedcarefullyrdquo mdashSun Tzu The Art of War

Why do you think America went to war with Iraq Doyou think that the Unite d States has a responsibilityto Iraq and its people What is that responsibility

Do you know anyone in the military who has fought inIraq or another war What if anything were they ableto share about their experience with you

How is Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo different fromother images you have seen or stories you have heardabout the war in Iraq How is the play similar to thoseimages and stories

CANADA

MEXICO

UNITED STATESOF AMERICA

Hawaii

Alaska

California

ColoradoUtahNevada

Illinois

Missouri

Texas

Kentucky

TennesseeKansas

New Mexico

Nebraska

Wyoming IowaIndiana

MichiganWisconsinMinnesotaMontana

Pennsylvania

VirginiaWestVirginia

Ohio

North DakotaWashington

South DakotaOregon

North Carolina

South Carolina

Maine

Georgia

FloridaArizona

Idaho

ArkansasOklahomaAlabama

Mississippi

Louisiana

New York

1New Hampshire2Vermont3Massachusetts4Rhode Island5Connecticut6New Jersey7Delaware8Maryland9Washington DC

12

345

6

7

89

983137983138983151983158983141 Young Iraqis are accustomed to seeing mili tary vehicles on the street photo

from Iraq Enchantment of the World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena983148983141983142983156 983156983151983152 983156983151 983138983151983156983156983151983149 Brad Fleischer and Glenn Davis in the world premiere of BengalTiger at the Baghdad Zoo at the Kirk Douglas Theatre 983152983144983151983156983151 983138983161 983139983154983137983145983143 983155983139983144983159983137983154983156983162

American soldiers on patrolin Iraq photo from IraqEnchantment of the World byByron Augustin and Jake Kubena

When yoursquore thisfar from homeyou know yoursquorenever getting back

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

IRAQ

SAUDI ARABIA

IRAN

TURKEY

SYRIA

JORDAN

Baghdad

Salah ad Din

Diyala

Wasit

Maysan

Al Basrah

Dhi Qar

Al-Qādisiyyah

Al Muthanna

BabilKarbala

An Najaf

Al Anbar

Ninawa

Dahuk

Arbil

AsSulaymaniyah

At Tarsquomin

KUWAIT

BengalMuch of Bengal is often referred today as West Bengal astate of India located in the northeastern part of the countryForests occupy more than one-tenth of the total land areaof the state and t he region as a whole has a rich and variedplant life The forests are inhabited by tigers pantherselephants wild cattle and rhinoceroses as well as by other

animals of the Indian plain

Far From HomeThe characters of Kev and Tom are American soldiers serving in IraqThe Tiger is from Bengal and was captured and brought to the BaghdadZoo These characters are far from their homes during this play

Have you ever been a stranger in a strange land

What do you remember most about being far from home Howdid that experience change you

Iraq

Iraq is a country rich in ancient history It is believed to be the home ofthe Garden of Eden It was Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization wherewriting mathematics and the worldrsquos legal system began About the sizeof California Iraq is a triangle of mountains desert and a fertile river valleybounded on the east by Iran on the north by Turkey on the west by Syria andJordan and on the south by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait It sits between tworivers the Tigris and the Euphrates The country has arid desert land west ofthe Euphrates a broad central valley between the Euphrates and t he Tigrisand mountains in the northeast Iraq is a land rich in oil and it controls 10of the worldrsquos oil reserves

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital city of Iraq Located on t he Tigris River it was oncethe heart of Mesopotamia and one of t he worldrsquos largest and wealthiestcities as well as a center of Islamic culture education and civilization Itsname means ldquoGiven by Godrdquo in Persian and it is also called ldquoCity of PeacerdquoMany Muslims revere it as the center of the Arab and Islamic worlds whenthey were at the height of their grandeur In the West many know Baghdadas the mystic land told through The Thousand and One Nights adventures acollection rich in Middle Eastern stories In peaceful times modern Baghdadhas been a prosperous and sophisticated city with a rich cultural life full ofmuseums universities parks gardens and a zoo

Irsquom from Michigan Itrsquosshaped like a mitten I wasnever supposed to die here

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Algebra was even invented here you know InBaghdad by this dude Abu Jarsquofar Muhammadibn Musa al-KhwarizmiAnd algebra comes fromthe Arabic word al jebr which means lsquoa reunion ofbroken partsrsquo mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Occupation

When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 the USgovernment assumed we would be welcomed as liberatorsby the Iraqi people from the repression of Saddam Hussein

Instead when the military overturned Saddam Husseinrsquosgovernment the US military gained control of the securityof the country and became unwelcome occupiers In theplay the characters Kev and Tom are being ordered tocontrol the Iraqi people in the name of their own safety butthey do not speak Arabic and know nothing about Iraqiculture They care little for the place they are being orderedto protect

What does it mean to occupy a country

How do you imagine the Iraqi people view t heAmerican soldiers patrolling their country How doyou think the soldiers view the Iraqis

Imagine an occupation of the United States Howwould it feel to have soldiers from a differentcountry patrolling your home your school yourneighborhood What would you want to say to them ifyou were able to communicate

The American soldiers were given the responsibilityof guarding a country very different than their own Isit possible to truly care about and take care of placesthat we donrsquot belong to

This tranquilizer dart comesout of nowhere and I wakeup in Baghdad mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

New Delhi

INDIA

NEPAL

CHINA

BHUTAN

BANGLADESH

PAKISTAN

AFGHANISTAN

SRI LANKA

Tamil Nadu

Andhra Pradesh

Karnataka

Goa

Gujarat

JammuandKashmir

Punjab

Orissa

Jharkhand

Chhattisgarh

Tripura

Nagaland

Mizoram

Haryana

Rajasthan

Meghalaya

WestBengal

Bihar

Himachal Pradesh

Andaman andNicobarislandsLakshadweep

Assam

Uttaranchal

UttarPradesh

Manipur

Maharashtra

Madhya Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

Sikkim

Kerala

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

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TThe Baghdad Zoo once contained 600 animals and was the largest zoo in the MiddleEast occupying roughly 200 acres in central Baghdad Saddam Hussein closed the zoo forrenovation in 2002 intending to reopen it in April 2003 after a $50 million improvementHowever on March 19 2003 during fighting between the Iraqi and American forces in thearea heavy mortar rounds and tanks released or killed many of the animals Out of theoriginal 600 animals in the zoo only 35 had survived by the eighth day of the invasion Severallions escaped from the damaged zoo and were rounded up by American soldiers howeverthree were shot when they would not return to their cages

During the destruction of the grounds and absence of zoo staff cages were torn open andhundreds of animals and exotic birds were released or stolen by looters Zoo staff claimedmany of the birds and game animals were taken for fo od as pre-war food shortages inBaghdad were intensified by the invasion The remaining animals were found in criticalcondition dying of thirst and starving Many animals were found roaming the zoo grounds Inmid-April 2003 a conservationist from South Africa and two assistants from Kuwait arrivedto help bring relief and stability to the damaged zoo Working with the zoo directors and a fewreturning staff they cared for and fed the remaining animals restored hygiene standards andmade repairs As of May 2003 there were about 50 animals mostly big cats and carnivoreswhich were from private and public animal collections from around the city American civilaffairs soldiers and engineers helped rebuild the zoo and many former zoo employees havesince returned to their jobs

The zoo reopened in July 2003 and now falls into what is known as the Green Zone inBaghdad an area that contains most of Saddam Husseins city palaces and governmentdepartments and is under heavy US security Today the zoo has almost 1070 animals andhas become a popular destination for families from all over Iraq Animals at the zoo nowinclude lions tigers monkeys ostriches and an elephant With the decline in overall violenceand the withdrawal of US and coalition forces from the city centers in June of 2009 somedegree of normalcy has returned to the zoo The risk of bombings is still a security concernand visitors are frisked for weapons before entry Government security guards check bags andpicnic baskets for explosives and patrol the zoo grounds

What memories do you have of a trip to a zoo in Los Angeles or another city

Have you ever imagined the world through the eyes of an animal living in a zoo

What can we learn about war by looking at it through an animals perspective

BengalTiger atthe BaghdadZoo 6

983156983151983152An Iraqi man andhistwo sonsarrive at the BaghdadZoofor theunveilingof twoBengal tigercubs Aug8 photofrom NewsBlaze983149983145983140983140983148983141USArmy983152983144983151983156983151983138983161 983155983152983139983139983144983137983154983148983141983155983159983143983145983148983148983138983151983156983156983151983149Bengal tiger in the BaghdadZoo photofrom LosAngelesTimes983152983144983151983156983151 983138983161 983155983137983137983140 983147983144983137983148983137983142

ldquoAll rights reserved Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content including by framing or similar means is expressly prohibited without the prior writtenconsent of Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the worldcopy Thomson Reuters 2009 Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interestsrdquo

September 21 2003

By REUTERS

BAGHDAD Iraq Sept 20mdashAn American soldier shot and killed a Bengaltiger at the city zoo after the animal injured a colleague who was trying tofeed it through the cage bars the zoos manager said today

The manager Adil Salman Mousa said in an interview that some soldierswere having a party in the zoo on Thursday night after it had closed

Someone was trying to feed the tigers he said The tiger bit his finger offand clawed his arm So his colleague took a gun and shot the tiger

The night watchman said the soldiers had arrived in military vehicles butwere casually dressed and were drinking beer

There was no immediate comment from United States officials

But Mr Mousa said that officials had come to see him on Friday to discussthe shooting

The tiger was one of two in the zoo once the largest in the Middle Eastbut now a decrepit collection of dirty cages and sad-looking animals

In April American soldiers killed four lions that escaped from the zoo Hundreds of other animals were stolen or let loose by looters in theaftermath of the American militarys entry into Baghdad

US Soldier Kills Tigerin Baghdad Zoo

Discovery Guide 7

983145983150983156983141983154983158983145983141983159 983159983145983156983144 Rajiv JosephA conversation with playwright Rajiv Joseph and

Center Theatre Group Teaching Artist Marcos Najera

Baghdad Zoo

Marcos NajeraThe simple question is how did you get your start as awriter

Rajiv JosephI had always wanted to write since high school Orcollege I think college is mainly when I started thinkingabout it seriously as a possible career But when I wasin college an undergraduate I wanted to write fictionOr journalism But I was more concentrated on fiction Itook creative writing courses That was my major I didnrsquotknow exactly how to pursue it you know and I think thething about becoming a writer is itrsquos a combination ofobviously working hard but also finding what medium orwhat type of writing not only appeals to you the most but

also that you have a knack for So I think that writers arereally varied And I for one I really struggled with fictionwriting Even though I wanted to do it It was like my firstambition It didnrsquot come easily to me and everything Iwrote I just kind of didnrsquot like I was afraid to share withpeople and I had a really hard time motivating myself Ididnrsquot have a lot of discipline even though I had it in myhead that I wanted to do this

I traveled for a bit after college I was in the Peace Corpsfor a couple of years And I wrote a lot while I was therebut not really fictionmdashI just kind of wrote in my journaland was recording my thoughts about my experiences

Came back to New York and my ambitions switched toscreenwriting And I wrote a screenplay and that got meinto the Masterrsquos program at NYU (New York University)And when I was a student there I was forced to takeplaywriting classes And thatrsquos how I switched intoplaywriting I came into playwriting very late and also itwas not something I had initially considered an option formyself But once I found it I realized I found the writingthat kind of came easier for me and it was easier for meto motivate for and that I really took to in a very strongway And I was lucky you know to be able to find thatAnd then to have plays produced right after I got out ofgrad school

Marcos NajeraSo it just so happened that the playwriting was a partof it But had you gone to NYU and they didnrsquot offerplaywriting you would have gone to it anyway because ofyour interest in film

Rajiv Joseph

Right yeah I did not imagine that I would end up as aplaywright

Marcos Najera[Laughs] Thatrsquos fantastic So you knew you wereeventually going to have to take [a playwriting] class Andwhen you went into this class for the first time what wasit like

Rajiv JosephWell at first it was very frustrating And it was difficultyou know But the great thing about NYU is that [for]students there a lot of opportunities to go see plays forfree or for really cheap And so I started going to a lot oftheatre for the first time in my life the first time in NewYork seeing off-Broadway shows that were really inspiringto me And I started to realize that itrsquos a totally differenttype of writing playwriting compared to screenwritingThe craft of it is different

But also it just seemed to me and I think this is truethat you can have some pretty crazy and wild and originalideas as a playwright and that will get people excited

And so something like Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoomdashitrsquos a story about Iraq but the main character is a tiger ina zoo a lot of theatres when they heard that I think wereinterested in it But I donrsquot I canrsquot imagine pitching thatidea to a studio and them [saying] ldquoOh This is great Thisis gold You knowrdquo [Laughs]

Marcos NajeraWow talk about that Why wouldnrsquot Hollywood find thatattractive but [theatre] stages would

Rajiv JosephThe thing about Bengal Tiger is that it is really a theatricalpiece that wouldnrsquot translate very well on screen Partlybecause the idea of a tiger being played by a guy whois not in a tiger suit and doesnrsquot look anything like atigermdashbut in theatre you see that and you immediatelyaccept hersquos a tiger And for the rest of the play you haveno problem with that Whereas in a film that kind ofsuspension of belief is more difficult because film tendsto be a lot more literal than theatre

Marcos NajeraAnd for Bengal Tiger you saw this article (see previouspage) in the New York Times that inspired you to writethis story

Rajiv JosephYes I saw the article in the New York Times one of theback pages It was very deep within the paper It wasnrsquota major article at all I actually still have it I had it cutout and pasted it into a notebook Itrsquos three or fourparagraphs long and itrsquos about this event that happenedat the Baghdad Zoo at the start of the war Some bombshad blown open part of the zoo Some animals hadescaped Therersquos actually a documented story about apride of lions that had escaped and were running throughthe streets in the middle of a firefight and were also shotand killed by Marines And then of course there were alsothe people looting animals And so all of this led to themilitary assigning some soldiers to guard the zoo Andone night there were these two soldiers and one tried tofeed a Bengal tiger and he had his hand bitten and theother soldier shot and killed the tiger And that was kindof the end to the story I was struck by it And I startedthinking about that It seemed surreal to me And as Icontinued to think about it I decided to write a short littleplay about itmdashwhich of course turned into a longer thing[Laughs]

When the war was starting it was important for me totry and figure out what was going on How to try to bestunderstand what was going on and then being frustratedby the very fact that you canrsquot You can watch all the newsyou want you can read all the newspapers everythingyou can and still itrsquos up to you to kind of imagine whatrsquoshappening over there

Itrsquos a war that unless you are engaged with the media youcan be totally oblivious as an American citizen becausethe fighting is not really touching here Wersquore at war andyet we are going on with our lives Wersquore not in dangeranymore than we normally were As someone who wastrying to figure it all out I think that curiosity or that needto think about it in a different way led the writing of thatfirst scene

During that time there was a lot of anger in the air Thecountry seemed like a very different place than it is rightnow

Marcos NajeraI wonder what else was on your mind at the time as youwere trying to unravel all this happening in the world

Rajiv JosephI was just trying to wrap my head around what was goingon I remember also at a certain point I had taken ClassicDrama A lecture course in grad school We were studyingthe Persians by Aeschylus Our teacher mentioned to usthat Persians was written by a Greek playwright basicallyabout the enemy The Greeks were at war with thePersians He said this was an example of a playwrightwho took this imaginative leap to imagine the lives of theenemy in the play And he actually made the question hesaid ldquoWhat American playwright is going to write aboutIraqis in that sense This is a challenge to a playwrightmdashto imagine a world outside of himselfrdquo

And that also spoke to what I was thinking about thewar anyhow How I was frustrated with the fact thatas American citizens if we believe in Democracy weare complicit in this act of going to war And in beingcomplicit in it itrsquos a responsibility to pay attention to itand think about it

I was frustrated about how little I understood about whatwas going on And what it meant to be a US soldierthere and what it meant to be an Iraqi whose countrywas under attack All those feelings of having this desireto think about it or contemplate it led to the writing of

Bengal Tiger

Marcos Najera

Obviously you are also coming from a love of the filmworld too and I wonder if any movies inspired you forBengal Tiger

Rajiv JosephFast Cheap and Out of Control by Errol Morris who isprobably the finest of American makers of documentaryfilm This is a fascinating film that intersplices the fourinterviews of these four men They all have very differentjobs The challenge for the viewer is to try and figure outwhy he made this movie Why is he putting these peopletogether Therersquos a lion tamer a topiary artist a robotengineer and an expert on mole rats They are nevertogether they are just these separate interviews and theyare intertwined And Morris the filmmaker makes noexplanation as to why he is doing this He just kind ofallows you to watch The images and the ideas are justfascinating to me There was a moment in one of thedrafts of Bengal Tiger where I was watching that film andthinking the ideas that Irsquom getting out of this film arethe ideas that are now getting poured into Bengal Tiger Which is to say that my interpretation of the movie wasthat these four men were basically four ideas of God Oneis the God who tames the wild universe And one is Godthe creator the robot engineer who creates the universeand people and animals and watches them to see whathappens And one is God the topiary artist who takes theworld and shapes it to his liking and then one is Godmdashthe mole rat specialist who just watches and tries not totouch anything else Those kind of theological notions areclearly a part of the Tigerrsquos personality and quest

Marcos NajeraThatrsquos fascinating Irsquove got to go watch this documentarynow I think it will prepare me to see Bengal Tiger on

stage Thank you Speaking of preparation I wonder ifwe can touch on the violence that will be on stage Howdo you think we can prepare our students to watch thedifficult scenes that they will see on stage in BengalTiger

Rajiv JosephThe easy answer is that when you are showing a storyabout war itrsquos hard to avoid bullets and blood Buttherersquos also emotional violence and mental violence Tome it ends up being very much about stakes In dramayou want to create high stakes And when you thinkrealistically about this situation the world of this playand what these characters are going throughmdashitrsquos verydifficult to avoid violence When the tiger that you killedat the zoo is whispering in your ear at the hospital thatputs you in a pretty bad state Itrsquos also telling the truthabout things Soldiers do suffer from war And it doesdrive them to suicide and Iraqis have a long history nowof being tormentedmdashnot just by war but by the rule of[Saddam] Hussein and his sons And so when we seeMusa [the main character] tormented by Uday [son ofSaddam Hussein] and we understand what happenedto his sister these are things that are not exaggerationsAnd they are not there for shock value They are a way ofgetting at what many people went through and are goingthrough in Iraq

And I think that imagination [on a stage] is a means tounderstand those things that might be impossible toquite understand

983138983137983139983147983143983154983151983157983150983140Baghdad Zoo photofrom AnimalFair

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The Tiger appears

TIGERThis place is lousy with ghostsAnd the new ones are irritating Theyre walking aroundwide eyed What happened to me Where am I Youredead and youre in Baghdad Shut up

Anyhow the other day Im walking down the street Thestreet is literally ON FIREAnd I see this little girl Her life is like a soap bubble andthen pop Shes here in the middle of the street looking upat me And she says to me What are you And I tell her Ima tiger And she says why

She says why

I dont know I tell her I just amWhich is true I dont want to lieShe asks me am I going to eat herAnd I say no I gave up eating childrenShe says whyAnd I say I dont know its this philosophy Im working outabout sin and redemption since God is apparently nuts

And the girl just kind of looks at me

And Im like think about it if Gods watching whyd hesnuff you out Why are you standing here alone in aburning street with a dead tigerWhy are you deadWhy is half your face gone

And she says yeah but whyd you give up eating children

And I tell her the bit about the two kids in the forest andhow I keep thinking about them and how I have all this guilt

She doesnt understand that The guilt thing She doesnthave any guilt And Im like of course you dont What didyou ever do Nothing

She tells me shes afraidI tell her I am tooWhich youd think would be comforting given thecircumstances but somehow being blown to bits and thencoming face to face with the likes of meWell the girl starts to cry you knowHer one eye cries

And I say dont cry But she cries harder And so I say to herHey do you want to see something amazing And she stopscrying for a second And shes like what

And I say its a I tell her its a gardenAnd she looks at me as if to say big fucking deal like Ihavent seen a garden beforeAnd I say no its a special garden

Lights up on the topiary animals

Its a special garden And I dont know why I say thisbut I say its Gods gardenI tell her its Gods gardenHe likes gardens see He tests us in them he tempts us inthem he builds them up and tears them apart Its like hisfucking hobbyAnd shes skeptical I can see that but I bring her here andshe sees these plants these animals and shes never seenanything like them before And I nailed it because shes notcrying anymore Shes walking around the garden pointing

A lion A camel An elephant

Fucking kids you know

And I mean this whole time Im talking out of my ass thisbusiness about Gods garden etcetera Maybe she knowsIm bullshitting too The girl is no dummy even if she doesonly have half a brainBut for a second we both look up at these ruined shrubs andthink okay Man You work in Mysterious Ways We get itAnd I feel this swell of hope

Monologue Act 2 mdash Scene 7

Reprinted with permission by the playwright

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 66

T983144983141 W983151983154983148983140 P983154983141983149983145983141983154983141 983151983142 B983141983150983143983137983148 T983145983143983141983154 983137983156 983156983144983141 B983137983143983144983140983137983140 Z983151983151 983159983137983155 O983154983145983143983145983150983137983148983148983161 P983154983151983140983157983139983141983140 983138983161 C983141983150983156983141983154 T983144983141983137983156983154983141 G983154983151983157983152 L983151983155 A983150983143983141983148983141983155

M983145983139983144983137983141983148 R983145983156983139983144983145983141 A983154983156983145983155983156983145983139 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154 C983144983137983154983148983141983155 D983145983148983148983145983150983143983144983137983149 M983137983150983137983143983145983150983143 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154

ReferencesConflict in Iraq Searching for Solutions by Choices for the 21st Century Education Program February 2008

Hunt Courtney The History of Iraq Greenwood Press 2005Ricks Thomas E Fiasco The American Military Adventure in Iraq The Penguin Press 2006

Carroll James Crusade Chronicles of an Unjust War Metropolitan Books 2004Munthe Turi Editor The Saddam Hussein Reader Selections from Leading Writers on Iraq Thunderrsquos Mouth Press 2002

Aziz Barbara Nimri Swimming Up the Tigris Real Life Encounters with Iraq The University Press of Florida 2007

SourcesAugustin Byron and Jake Kubena Iraq Enchantment of the World New York Childrens 2006 Print

Baghdad Zoo Animal Fair Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpwwwanimalfaircomhomep=3227gtIRAQ The Big Cats of Baghdad | Babylon amp Beyond Los Angeles Times Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttplatimesblogslatimescombabylonbeyond200808baghdad-the-bightmlgt

Tigers Make Big Roar in Baghdad Zoo NewsBlaze Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpnewsblazecomstory20080820110531zmilnbtopstoryhtmlgt

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo 8

Ukhuth eedee ishfee gissmee ilmitgettarsquo

ikhithnee min il-sahraarsquo Khelee bal-ee yirtahh

Take my hand heal my severed body take me from the desert Let my mind find peace

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

The Zagros Mountains rise in northeastern Iraq (983156983151983152) andIraqi children (983138983151983156983156983151983149) photos from Iraq Enchantment ofthe World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena

Page 2: Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

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WriterJulie Marie Myatt

Associate Directorof EducationDebra Piver

Teaching Artists inResidenceLynn ClarkLeslie IshiiMarcos NajeraOmar Ricks

ProofreaderMandy Ratliff

Graphic DesignerHaruka Hayakawa

BengalTiger atthe BaghdadZoo 1

Discovery Guide

Robin Williams

Im not the kind of person who does thisIt is not who I am mdashBengalTigerat the BaghdadZoo

Discovery Guide3

Interpreters

Gardens

According to the Biblersquos Book of Genesis the Garden of Edenwas located near four rivers the Pishon Gihon Tigris andEuphrates in ancient Mesopotamia which is modern IraqIn the story of Genesis God instructs Adam to tend to thisbeautiful garden but commands him not to eat from the Tree ofKnowledge of Good and Evil A serpent in the tree asks Eve whyshe avoids eating the fruit and Eve explains Godrsquos commandand that she will die if she eats it The serpent persuades her toeat a piece of fruit telling Eve that it will make her and Adamlike gods knowing good and evil Eve eats the fruit and whenAdam realizes what shersquos done he too eats the fruit so that hecan remain with Eve God casts them both out of the GardenThis story is often used as metaphor for the consequences ofknowledge good and evil

Why do you think that the playwright Rajiv Josephincludes references to gardens throughout his play Whatis he saying about knowledge and good and evil

The character Musa is proud of being a gardener because heis able to use his hands to create beauty and life rather thanviolence Much of that beauty is destroyed during the play

Do you think beauty can exist in the midst of a violentworld Can beauty outlast violence Where do you seebeauty in your own world Why is it important to continueto make or appreciate beauty in brutal times

Topiary

Topiary is the art of trimming living trees and shrubs intodecorative shapes The best trees and shrubs for topiary artare box trees cypress and yew rosemary shrubs holly andbox honey-suckle Topiary was practiced as early as the 1stcentury AD The art is thought to have evolved from the naturaland necessary trimming pruning and training of trees Theearliest topiary was probably the simple shaping of dwarf-boxedging and the development of cones columns and spiresof box trees to accent a garden scene This architectural usegave way to more elaborate designs shrubs were shaped intoships huntsmen and animals In the 18th century topiary wascalled the art of the tree barber but its practitioners call it theart of the tree mason and leafage sculptor Recently topiary ismaking a comeback in Baghdad

HeightenedTheatricality

A tiger who speaks and contemplates the existence ofGod A soldier who dies and returns a more intelligentghost The ghost of a tyrants son who appearscarrying his brothers head In the world of this playlife and death intermingle in a state of constant unrestCharacters are haunted by each other by their pastactions and by the violence of their present

Rajiv Josephrsquos play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

is based on real-life events but he has used artisticlicense to spin a tale full of surreal elements Whydo you think the playwright chose a heightenednon-realistic style to tell the story Does thetheatricality give you a different perspective thanif the story had been told in a more realistic wayHow does it impact your experience as an audiencemember

Violence

In this play the characters find themselves in cruel andviolent situations Characters are tortured and killedpeople lose their limbs their minds and their livesThe play explores what happens to people places andanimals in the aftermath of violence

What makes one capable of violence Is it innateor is it learned Is it different when an animalcommits a violent act than when a human doesWhat is the difference

What is the value of watching violence onstageHow might it help us reflect upon the violence inour own world How does witnessing the violencein the play and its impact on the charactersdeepen your understanding of the consequencesof violence and of war

Search ForAnswers

More questions are posed than answers given in thisplay ldquoWhere am Irdquo Why am I still hererdquo ldquoWhy amI not gonerdquo ldquoWhat happens now Godrdquo Charactersare searching for meaning trying to understandthemselves their actions and the violent wo rld they findthemselves in

How do humans try to make meaning of sufferingand violence Why do we ask questions andsearch for answers What is the power of askingquestions in the midst of violence What happenswhen we cannot find an answer or when it seemslike there are no answers

AA darkly comic and surreal story about Tom and Kev twomisguided young soldiers assigned to guard the Baghdad Zooduring the early days of the 2003 American invasion of IraqWhen Tom taunts the sole surviving Bengal Tiger with food theTiger bites off his hand prompting Kev to shoot the animalThe gun he uses to kill the Tiger is not just any gun itrsquos a goldgun that Tom stole from Uday Hussein son of dictator SaddamHussein during a raid The ghost of the Tiger starts to wanderthe streets of war-torn Baghdad caught in an existential hazeHe begins to haunt his killer Kev until Kev breaks down andtakes his life by severing his own hand Like the Tiger Kevbecomes a ghost and proceeds to haunt his buddy TomMeanwhile Musa once Uday Husseinrsquos gardener is trying toadapt to his new job as interpreter for the occupying Americanforces Musa is haunted by the ghost of Uday Hussein theman who raped and killed his little sister Hadia The gold gunbinds the men and the Tiger to Baghdadrsquos brutal past andits confused violent present The city has transitioned fromdictatorship to American occupation the young soldiers havetransformed from kids to killers the interpreter has turnedfrom gardener to traitor in his own land No one can makesense of the inhuman acts surrounding him Ghosts fill thestreets of Baghdad looking for answers in the midst of warand the Bengal Tiger joins American and Iraqi voices in asking

ldquoWhy am I hererdquo

IIt is estimated that since the second Gulf War began in 2003 more than 2 0000Iraqis have worked as interpreters for the American military and private securityfirms According to the Department of Defense some 5490 Iraqis were employedas interpreters Their job is to create the important bridge between the militaryand the local community paving the way for better communication in thehopes of a peaceful exchange between the two cultures While an interpreter jobprovides new opportunities for Iraqis the risks can often outweigh the gains ofemployment Working for the United States government is viewed by the majorityof the Iraqi people as working fo r the occupiers and interpreters are often viewedas traitors Many interpreters find their lives threatened Recently across theUnited States veterans of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan are taking upthe cause of their interpreters Veterans are creating a network of aid groups andbecoming personally involved as advocates in the immigration process a processthat can often take more than a year to complete At the beginning of 2008 nearly2000 interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan had applied to the State Departmentfor a Special Immigrant Visa which would allow them to enter the United StatesThis visa was created specifically for those Iraqi and Afghan nationals whose liveshave been threatened because of their work for United States forces Since thespecial visa for interpreters was created 1735 of these cases have been approvedthough it is unclear how many have actually come to the United States

In the play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo the character of Musa is aninterpreter who is trying to learn American slang so that he can better understandwhat the soldiers are saying around him both for his own safety and that of hisfellow Iraqis Musa is caught between the two cultures trying to use language asa bridge to understanding and clarity in an atmosphere of mistrust and violence

Have you ever had to be an interpreter in your life

What was it like to be the person between two languages two cultures

How might our understanding of Iraq and other Arab countries deepen ifwe spoke their language How can language be a bridge to bring differentgroups closer together

Have you ever managed to communicate with someone who did notspeak the same language as you How did you make your thoughtsand feelings known

What happens nowGod What happensnow that Irsquom intelligentand aware and sensitiveto the universe mdashBengalTigerat the BaghdadZoo

My hands belong to me And myhands have their own memoryAnd when I put them on a plantthey create something They willcreate something

mdashBengalTigerat the BaghdadZoo

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

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AssumptionsIraq It is a country that has been in the news for manyyears now It is a country that thousands of Americansoldiers have been deployed to And yet it remains a placethat many people in the United States know very littleabout Why do you think that is

Take a moment and picture Iraq What do you knowabout this country Where is it located What imagescome to mind when you think of Iraq Are yourimages primarily of war Can you picture Iraq outsidethe realm of war or violence Can you picture Iraqoutside of a relationship to the Unit ed States

What do you think it is like to be a teenager in IraqWhat do you think life is like for women in Iraq Canyou imagine Iraqi food music language sports orschools

What donrsquot you know about Iraq Is there somethingyou are curious to know about this country and itspeople If you could ask one question to one personin Iraqmdashwho would you want to talk to and what

would you want to know

What assumptions have you heard about Iraq and itspeople Do you share these ideas Do you think it iseasier to go to war with a country that we know verylittle about What might happen if Americans knewmore about Iraqrsquos culture and people

War

ldquoWar is a grave affair of state it is a place of life and deatha road to survival and extinction a matter to be ponderedcarefullyrdquo mdashSun Tzu The Art of War

Why do you think America went to war with Iraq Doyou think that the Unite d States has a responsibilityto Iraq and its people What is that responsibility

Do you know anyone in the military who has fought inIraq or another war What if anything were they ableto share about their experience with you

How is Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo different fromother images you have seen or stories you have heardabout the war in Iraq How is the play similar to thoseimages and stories

CANADA

MEXICO

UNITED STATESOF AMERICA

Hawaii

Alaska

California

ColoradoUtahNevada

Illinois

Missouri

Texas

Kentucky

TennesseeKansas

New Mexico

Nebraska

Wyoming IowaIndiana

MichiganWisconsinMinnesotaMontana

Pennsylvania

VirginiaWestVirginia

Ohio

North DakotaWashington

South DakotaOregon

North Carolina

South Carolina

Maine

Georgia

FloridaArizona

Idaho

ArkansasOklahomaAlabama

Mississippi

Louisiana

New York

1New Hampshire2Vermont3Massachusetts4Rhode Island5Connecticut6New Jersey7Delaware8Maryland9Washington DC

12

345

6

7

89

983137983138983151983158983141 Young Iraqis are accustomed to seeing mili tary vehicles on the street photo

from Iraq Enchantment of the World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena983148983141983142983156 983156983151983152 983156983151 983138983151983156983156983151983149 Brad Fleischer and Glenn Davis in the world premiere of BengalTiger at the Baghdad Zoo at the Kirk Douglas Theatre 983152983144983151983156983151 983138983161 983139983154983137983145983143 983155983139983144983159983137983154983156983162

American soldiers on patrolin Iraq photo from IraqEnchantment of the World byByron Augustin and Jake Kubena

When yoursquore thisfar from homeyou know yoursquorenever getting back

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

IRAQ

SAUDI ARABIA

IRAN

TURKEY

SYRIA

JORDAN

Baghdad

Salah ad Din

Diyala

Wasit

Maysan

Al Basrah

Dhi Qar

Al-Qādisiyyah

Al Muthanna

BabilKarbala

An Najaf

Al Anbar

Ninawa

Dahuk

Arbil

AsSulaymaniyah

At Tarsquomin

KUWAIT

BengalMuch of Bengal is often referred today as West Bengal astate of India located in the northeastern part of the countryForests occupy more than one-tenth of the total land areaof the state and t he region as a whole has a rich and variedplant life The forests are inhabited by tigers pantherselephants wild cattle and rhinoceroses as well as by other

animals of the Indian plain

Far From HomeThe characters of Kev and Tom are American soldiers serving in IraqThe Tiger is from Bengal and was captured and brought to the BaghdadZoo These characters are far from their homes during this play

Have you ever been a stranger in a strange land

What do you remember most about being far from home Howdid that experience change you

Iraq

Iraq is a country rich in ancient history It is believed to be the home ofthe Garden of Eden It was Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization wherewriting mathematics and the worldrsquos legal system began About the sizeof California Iraq is a triangle of mountains desert and a fertile river valleybounded on the east by Iran on the north by Turkey on the west by Syria andJordan and on the south by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait It sits between tworivers the Tigris and the Euphrates The country has arid desert land west ofthe Euphrates a broad central valley between the Euphrates and t he Tigrisand mountains in the northeast Iraq is a land rich in oil and it controls 10of the worldrsquos oil reserves

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital city of Iraq Located on t he Tigris River it was oncethe heart of Mesopotamia and one of t he worldrsquos largest and wealthiestcities as well as a center of Islamic culture education and civilization Itsname means ldquoGiven by Godrdquo in Persian and it is also called ldquoCity of PeacerdquoMany Muslims revere it as the center of the Arab and Islamic worlds whenthey were at the height of their grandeur In the West many know Baghdadas the mystic land told through The Thousand and One Nights adventures acollection rich in Middle Eastern stories In peaceful times modern Baghdadhas been a prosperous and sophisticated city with a rich cultural life full ofmuseums universities parks gardens and a zoo

Irsquom from Michigan Itrsquosshaped like a mitten I wasnever supposed to die here

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Algebra was even invented here you know InBaghdad by this dude Abu Jarsquofar Muhammadibn Musa al-KhwarizmiAnd algebra comes fromthe Arabic word al jebr which means lsquoa reunion ofbroken partsrsquo mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Occupation

When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 the USgovernment assumed we would be welcomed as liberatorsby the Iraqi people from the repression of Saddam Hussein

Instead when the military overturned Saddam Husseinrsquosgovernment the US military gained control of the securityof the country and became unwelcome occupiers In theplay the characters Kev and Tom are being ordered tocontrol the Iraqi people in the name of their own safety butthey do not speak Arabic and know nothing about Iraqiculture They care little for the place they are being orderedto protect

What does it mean to occupy a country

How do you imagine the Iraqi people view t heAmerican soldiers patrolling their country How doyou think the soldiers view the Iraqis

Imagine an occupation of the United States Howwould it feel to have soldiers from a differentcountry patrolling your home your school yourneighborhood What would you want to say to them ifyou were able to communicate

The American soldiers were given the responsibilityof guarding a country very different than their own Isit possible to truly care about and take care of placesthat we donrsquot belong to

This tranquilizer dart comesout of nowhere and I wakeup in Baghdad mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

New Delhi

INDIA

NEPAL

CHINA

BHUTAN

BANGLADESH

PAKISTAN

AFGHANISTAN

SRI LANKA

Tamil Nadu

Andhra Pradesh

Karnataka

Goa

Gujarat

JammuandKashmir

Punjab

Orissa

Jharkhand

Chhattisgarh

Tripura

Nagaland

Mizoram

Haryana

Rajasthan

Meghalaya

WestBengal

Bihar

Himachal Pradesh

Andaman andNicobarislandsLakshadweep

Assam

Uttaranchal

UttarPradesh

Manipur

Maharashtra

Madhya Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

Sikkim

Kerala

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 46

TThe Baghdad Zoo once contained 600 animals and was the largest zoo in the MiddleEast occupying roughly 200 acres in central Baghdad Saddam Hussein closed the zoo forrenovation in 2002 intending to reopen it in April 2003 after a $50 million improvementHowever on March 19 2003 during fighting between the Iraqi and American forces in thearea heavy mortar rounds and tanks released or killed many of the animals Out of theoriginal 600 animals in the zoo only 35 had survived by the eighth day of the invasion Severallions escaped from the damaged zoo and were rounded up by American soldiers howeverthree were shot when they would not return to their cages

During the destruction of the grounds and absence of zoo staff cages were torn open andhundreds of animals and exotic birds were released or stolen by looters Zoo staff claimedmany of the birds and game animals were taken for fo od as pre-war food shortages inBaghdad were intensified by the invasion The remaining animals were found in criticalcondition dying of thirst and starving Many animals were found roaming the zoo grounds Inmid-April 2003 a conservationist from South Africa and two assistants from Kuwait arrivedto help bring relief and stability to the damaged zoo Working with the zoo directors and a fewreturning staff they cared for and fed the remaining animals restored hygiene standards andmade repairs As of May 2003 there were about 50 animals mostly big cats and carnivoreswhich were from private and public animal collections from around the city American civilaffairs soldiers and engineers helped rebuild the zoo and many former zoo employees havesince returned to their jobs

The zoo reopened in July 2003 and now falls into what is known as the Green Zone inBaghdad an area that contains most of Saddam Husseins city palaces and governmentdepartments and is under heavy US security Today the zoo has almost 1070 animals andhas become a popular destination for families from all over Iraq Animals at the zoo nowinclude lions tigers monkeys ostriches and an elephant With the decline in overall violenceand the withdrawal of US and coalition forces from the city centers in June of 2009 somedegree of normalcy has returned to the zoo The risk of bombings is still a security concernand visitors are frisked for weapons before entry Government security guards check bags andpicnic baskets for explosives and patrol the zoo grounds

What memories do you have of a trip to a zoo in Los Angeles or another city

Have you ever imagined the world through the eyes of an animal living in a zoo

What can we learn about war by looking at it through an animals perspective

BengalTiger atthe BaghdadZoo 6

983156983151983152An Iraqi man andhistwo sonsarrive at the BaghdadZoofor theunveilingof twoBengal tigercubs Aug8 photofrom NewsBlaze983149983145983140983140983148983141USArmy983152983144983151983156983151983138983161 983155983152983139983139983144983137983154983148983141983155983159983143983145983148983148983138983151983156983156983151983149Bengal tiger in the BaghdadZoo photofrom LosAngelesTimes983152983144983151983156983151 983138983161 983155983137983137983140 983147983144983137983148983137983142

ldquoAll rights reserved Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content including by framing or similar means is expressly prohibited without the prior writtenconsent of Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the worldcopy Thomson Reuters 2009 Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interestsrdquo

September 21 2003

By REUTERS

BAGHDAD Iraq Sept 20mdashAn American soldier shot and killed a Bengaltiger at the city zoo after the animal injured a colleague who was trying tofeed it through the cage bars the zoos manager said today

The manager Adil Salman Mousa said in an interview that some soldierswere having a party in the zoo on Thursday night after it had closed

Someone was trying to feed the tigers he said The tiger bit his finger offand clawed his arm So his colleague took a gun and shot the tiger

The night watchman said the soldiers had arrived in military vehicles butwere casually dressed and were drinking beer

There was no immediate comment from United States officials

But Mr Mousa said that officials had come to see him on Friday to discussthe shooting

The tiger was one of two in the zoo once the largest in the Middle Eastbut now a decrepit collection of dirty cages and sad-looking animals

In April American soldiers killed four lions that escaped from the zoo Hundreds of other animals were stolen or let loose by looters in theaftermath of the American militarys entry into Baghdad

US Soldier Kills Tigerin Baghdad Zoo

Discovery Guide 7

983145983150983156983141983154983158983145983141983159 983159983145983156983144 Rajiv JosephA conversation with playwright Rajiv Joseph and

Center Theatre Group Teaching Artist Marcos Najera

Baghdad Zoo

Marcos NajeraThe simple question is how did you get your start as awriter

Rajiv JosephI had always wanted to write since high school Orcollege I think college is mainly when I started thinkingabout it seriously as a possible career But when I wasin college an undergraduate I wanted to write fictionOr journalism But I was more concentrated on fiction Itook creative writing courses That was my major I didnrsquotknow exactly how to pursue it you know and I think thething about becoming a writer is itrsquos a combination ofobviously working hard but also finding what medium orwhat type of writing not only appeals to you the most but

also that you have a knack for So I think that writers arereally varied And I for one I really struggled with fictionwriting Even though I wanted to do it It was like my firstambition It didnrsquot come easily to me and everything Iwrote I just kind of didnrsquot like I was afraid to share withpeople and I had a really hard time motivating myself Ididnrsquot have a lot of discipline even though I had it in myhead that I wanted to do this

I traveled for a bit after college I was in the Peace Corpsfor a couple of years And I wrote a lot while I was therebut not really fictionmdashI just kind of wrote in my journaland was recording my thoughts about my experiences

Came back to New York and my ambitions switched toscreenwriting And I wrote a screenplay and that got meinto the Masterrsquos program at NYU (New York University)And when I was a student there I was forced to takeplaywriting classes And thatrsquos how I switched intoplaywriting I came into playwriting very late and also itwas not something I had initially considered an option formyself But once I found it I realized I found the writingthat kind of came easier for me and it was easier for meto motivate for and that I really took to in a very strongway And I was lucky you know to be able to find thatAnd then to have plays produced right after I got out ofgrad school

Marcos NajeraSo it just so happened that the playwriting was a partof it But had you gone to NYU and they didnrsquot offerplaywriting you would have gone to it anyway because ofyour interest in film

Rajiv Joseph

Right yeah I did not imagine that I would end up as aplaywright

Marcos Najera[Laughs] Thatrsquos fantastic So you knew you wereeventually going to have to take [a playwriting] class Andwhen you went into this class for the first time what wasit like

Rajiv JosephWell at first it was very frustrating And it was difficultyou know But the great thing about NYU is that [for]students there a lot of opportunities to go see plays forfree or for really cheap And so I started going to a lot oftheatre for the first time in my life the first time in NewYork seeing off-Broadway shows that were really inspiringto me And I started to realize that itrsquos a totally differenttype of writing playwriting compared to screenwritingThe craft of it is different

But also it just seemed to me and I think this is truethat you can have some pretty crazy and wild and originalideas as a playwright and that will get people excited

And so something like Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoomdashitrsquos a story about Iraq but the main character is a tiger ina zoo a lot of theatres when they heard that I think wereinterested in it But I donrsquot I canrsquot imagine pitching thatidea to a studio and them [saying] ldquoOh This is great Thisis gold You knowrdquo [Laughs]

Marcos NajeraWow talk about that Why wouldnrsquot Hollywood find thatattractive but [theatre] stages would

Rajiv JosephThe thing about Bengal Tiger is that it is really a theatricalpiece that wouldnrsquot translate very well on screen Partlybecause the idea of a tiger being played by a guy whois not in a tiger suit and doesnrsquot look anything like atigermdashbut in theatre you see that and you immediatelyaccept hersquos a tiger And for the rest of the play you haveno problem with that Whereas in a film that kind ofsuspension of belief is more difficult because film tendsto be a lot more literal than theatre

Marcos NajeraAnd for Bengal Tiger you saw this article (see previouspage) in the New York Times that inspired you to writethis story

Rajiv JosephYes I saw the article in the New York Times one of theback pages It was very deep within the paper It wasnrsquota major article at all I actually still have it I had it cutout and pasted it into a notebook Itrsquos three or fourparagraphs long and itrsquos about this event that happenedat the Baghdad Zoo at the start of the war Some bombshad blown open part of the zoo Some animals hadescaped Therersquos actually a documented story about apride of lions that had escaped and were running throughthe streets in the middle of a firefight and were also shotand killed by Marines And then of course there were alsothe people looting animals And so all of this led to themilitary assigning some soldiers to guard the zoo Andone night there were these two soldiers and one tried tofeed a Bengal tiger and he had his hand bitten and theother soldier shot and killed the tiger And that was kindof the end to the story I was struck by it And I startedthinking about that It seemed surreal to me And as Icontinued to think about it I decided to write a short littleplay about itmdashwhich of course turned into a longer thing[Laughs]

When the war was starting it was important for me totry and figure out what was going on How to try to bestunderstand what was going on and then being frustratedby the very fact that you canrsquot You can watch all the newsyou want you can read all the newspapers everythingyou can and still itrsquos up to you to kind of imagine whatrsquoshappening over there

Itrsquos a war that unless you are engaged with the media youcan be totally oblivious as an American citizen becausethe fighting is not really touching here Wersquore at war andyet we are going on with our lives Wersquore not in dangeranymore than we normally were As someone who wastrying to figure it all out I think that curiosity or that needto think about it in a different way led the writing of thatfirst scene

During that time there was a lot of anger in the air Thecountry seemed like a very different place than it is rightnow

Marcos NajeraI wonder what else was on your mind at the time as youwere trying to unravel all this happening in the world

Rajiv JosephI was just trying to wrap my head around what was goingon I remember also at a certain point I had taken ClassicDrama A lecture course in grad school We were studyingthe Persians by Aeschylus Our teacher mentioned to usthat Persians was written by a Greek playwright basicallyabout the enemy The Greeks were at war with thePersians He said this was an example of a playwrightwho took this imaginative leap to imagine the lives of theenemy in the play And he actually made the question hesaid ldquoWhat American playwright is going to write aboutIraqis in that sense This is a challenge to a playwrightmdashto imagine a world outside of himselfrdquo

And that also spoke to what I was thinking about thewar anyhow How I was frustrated with the fact thatas American citizens if we believe in Democracy weare complicit in this act of going to war And in beingcomplicit in it itrsquos a responsibility to pay attention to itand think about it

I was frustrated about how little I understood about whatwas going on And what it meant to be a US soldierthere and what it meant to be an Iraqi whose countrywas under attack All those feelings of having this desireto think about it or contemplate it led to the writing of

Bengal Tiger

Marcos Najera

Obviously you are also coming from a love of the filmworld too and I wonder if any movies inspired you forBengal Tiger

Rajiv JosephFast Cheap and Out of Control by Errol Morris who isprobably the finest of American makers of documentaryfilm This is a fascinating film that intersplices the fourinterviews of these four men They all have very differentjobs The challenge for the viewer is to try and figure outwhy he made this movie Why is he putting these peopletogether Therersquos a lion tamer a topiary artist a robotengineer and an expert on mole rats They are nevertogether they are just these separate interviews and theyare intertwined And Morris the filmmaker makes noexplanation as to why he is doing this He just kind ofallows you to watch The images and the ideas are justfascinating to me There was a moment in one of thedrafts of Bengal Tiger where I was watching that film andthinking the ideas that Irsquom getting out of this film arethe ideas that are now getting poured into Bengal Tiger Which is to say that my interpretation of the movie wasthat these four men were basically four ideas of God Oneis the God who tames the wild universe And one is Godthe creator the robot engineer who creates the universeand people and animals and watches them to see whathappens And one is God the topiary artist who takes theworld and shapes it to his liking and then one is Godmdashthe mole rat specialist who just watches and tries not totouch anything else Those kind of theological notions areclearly a part of the Tigerrsquos personality and quest

Marcos NajeraThatrsquos fascinating Irsquove got to go watch this documentarynow I think it will prepare me to see Bengal Tiger on

stage Thank you Speaking of preparation I wonder ifwe can touch on the violence that will be on stage Howdo you think we can prepare our students to watch thedifficult scenes that they will see on stage in BengalTiger

Rajiv JosephThe easy answer is that when you are showing a storyabout war itrsquos hard to avoid bullets and blood Buttherersquos also emotional violence and mental violence Tome it ends up being very much about stakes In dramayou want to create high stakes And when you thinkrealistically about this situation the world of this playand what these characters are going throughmdashitrsquos verydifficult to avoid violence When the tiger that you killedat the zoo is whispering in your ear at the hospital thatputs you in a pretty bad state Itrsquos also telling the truthabout things Soldiers do suffer from war And it doesdrive them to suicide and Iraqis have a long history nowof being tormentedmdashnot just by war but by the rule of[Saddam] Hussein and his sons And so when we seeMusa [the main character] tormented by Uday [son ofSaddam Hussein] and we understand what happenedto his sister these are things that are not exaggerationsAnd they are not there for shock value They are a way ofgetting at what many people went through and are goingthrough in Iraq

And I think that imagination [on a stage] is a means tounderstand those things that might be impossible toquite understand

983138983137983139983147983143983154983151983157983150983140Baghdad Zoo photofrom AnimalFair

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The Tiger appears

TIGERThis place is lousy with ghostsAnd the new ones are irritating Theyre walking aroundwide eyed What happened to me Where am I Youredead and youre in Baghdad Shut up

Anyhow the other day Im walking down the street Thestreet is literally ON FIREAnd I see this little girl Her life is like a soap bubble andthen pop Shes here in the middle of the street looking upat me And she says to me What are you And I tell her Ima tiger And she says why

She says why

I dont know I tell her I just amWhich is true I dont want to lieShe asks me am I going to eat herAnd I say no I gave up eating childrenShe says whyAnd I say I dont know its this philosophy Im working outabout sin and redemption since God is apparently nuts

And the girl just kind of looks at me

And Im like think about it if Gods watching whyd hesnuff you out Why are you standing here alone in aburning street with a dead tigerWhy are you deadWhy is half your face gone

And she says yeah but whyd you give up eating children

And I tell her the bit about the two kids in the forest andhow I keep thinking about them and how I have all this guilt

She doesnt understand that The guilt thing She doesnthave any guilt And Im like of course you dont What didyou ever do Nothing

She tells me shes afraidI tell her I am tooWhich youd think would be comforting given thecircumstances but somehow being blown to bits and thencoming face to face with the likes of meWell the girl starts to cry you knowHer one eye cries

And I say dont cry But she cries harder And so I say to herHey do you want to see something amazing And she stopscrying for a second And shes like what

And I say its a I tell her its a gardenAnd she looks at me as if to say big fucking deal like Ihavent seen a garden beforeAnd I say no its a special garden

Lights up on the topiary animals

Its a special garden And I dont know why I say thisbut I say its Gods gardenI tell her its Gods gardenHe likes gardens see He tests us in them he tempts us inthem he builds them up and tears them apart Its like hisfucking hobbyAnd shes skeptical I can see that but I bring her here andshe sees these plants these animals and shes never seenanything like them before And I nailed it because shes notcrying anymore Shes walking around the garden pointing

A lion A camel An elephant

Fucking kids you know

And I mean this whole time Im talking out of my ass thisbusiness about Gods garden etcetera Maybe she knowsIm bullshitting too The girl is no dummy even if she doesonly have half a brainBut for a second we both look up at these ruined shrubs andthink okay Man You work in Mysterious Ways We get itAnd I feel this swell of hope

Monologue Act 2 mdash Scene 7

Reprinted with permission by the playwright

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

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T983144983141 W983151983154983148983140 P983154983141983149983145983141983154983141 983151983142 B983141983150983143983137983148 T983145983143983141983154 983137983156 983156983144983141 B983137983143983144983140983137983140 Z983151983151 983159983137983155 O983154983145983143983145983150983137983148983148983161 P983154983151983140983157983139983141983140 983138983161 C983141983150983156983141983154 T983144983141983137983156983154983141 G983154983151983157983152 L983151983155 A983150983143983141983148983141983155

M983145983139983144983137983141983148 R983145983156983139983144983145983141 A983154983156983145983155983156983145983139 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154 C983144983137983154983148983141983155 D983145983148983148983145983150983143983144983137983149 M983137983150983137983143983145983150983143 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154

ReferencesConflict in Iraq Searching for Solutions by Choices for the 21st Century Education Program February 2008

Hunt Courtney The History of Iraq Greenwood Press 2005Ricks Thomas E Fiasco The American Military Adventure in Iraq The Penguin Press 2006

Carroll James Crusade Chronicles of an Unjust War Metropolitan Books 2004Munthe Turi Editor The Saddam Hussein Reader Selections from Leading Writers on Iraq Thunderrsquos Mouth Press 2002

Aziz Barbara Nimri Swimming Up the Tigris Real Life Encounters with Iraq The University Press of Florida 2007

SourcesAugustin Byron and Jake Kubena Iraq Enchantment of the World New York Childrens 2006 Print

Baghdad Zoo Animal Fair Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpwwwanimalfaircomhomep=3227gtIRAQ The Big Cats of Baghdad | Babylon amp Beyond Los Angeles Times Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttplatimesblogslatimescombabylonbeyond200808baghdad-the-bightmlgt

Tigers Make Big Roar in Baghdad Zoo NewsBlaze Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpnewsblazecomstory20080820110531zmilnbtopstoryhtmlgt

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo 8

Ukhuth eedee ishfee gissmee ilmitgettarsquo

ikhithnee min il-sahraarsquo Khelee bal-ee yirtahh

Take my hand heal my severed body take me from the desert Let my mind find peace

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

The Zagros Mountains rise in northeastern Iraq (983156983151983152) andIraqi children (983138983151983156983156983151983149) photos from Iraq Enchantment ofthe World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena

Page 3: Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

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AssumptionsIraq It is a country that has been in the news for manyyears now It is a country that thousands of Americansoldiers have been deployed to And yet it remains a placethat many people in the United States know very littleabout Why do you think that is

Take a moment and picture Iraq What do you knowabout this country Where is it located What imagescome to mind when you think of Iraq Are yourimages primarily of war Can you picture Iraq outsidethe realm of war or violence Can you picture Iraqoutside of a relationship to the Unit ed States

What do you think it is like to be a teenager in IraqWhat do you think life is like for women in Iraq Canyou imagine Iraqi food music language sports orschools

What donrsquot you know about Iraq Is there somethingyou are curious to know about this country and itspeople If you could ask one question to one personin Iraqmdashwho would you want to talk to and what

would you want to know

What assumptions have you heard about Iraq and itspeople Do you share these ideas Do you think it iseasier to go to war with a country that we know verylittle about What might happen if Americans knewmore about Iraqrsquos culture and people

War

ldquoWar is a grave affair of state it is a place of life and deatha road to survival and extinction a matter to be ponderedcarefullyrdquo mdashSun Tzu The Art of War

Why do you think America went to war with Iraq Doyou think that the Unite d States has a responsibilityto Iraq and its people What is that responsibility

Do you know anyone in the military who has fought inIraq or another war What if anything were they ableto share about their experience with you

How is Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo different fromother images you have seen or stories you have heardabout the war in Iraq How is the play similar to thoseimages and stories

CANADA

MEXICO

UNITED STATESOF AMERICA

Hawaii

Alaska

California

ColoradoUtahNevada

Illinois

Missouri

Texas

Kentucky

TennesseeKansas

New Mexico

Nebraska

Wyoming IowaIndiana

MichiganWisconsinMinnesotaMontana

Pennsylvania

VirginiaWestVirginia

Ohio

North DakotaWashington

South DakotaOregon

North Carolina

South Carolina

Maine

Georgia

FloridaArizona

Idaho

ArkansasOklahomaAlabama

Mississippi

Louisiana

New York

1New Hampshire2Vermont3Massachusetts4Rhode Island5Connecticut6New Jersey7Delaware8Maryland9Washington DC

12

345

6

7

89

983137983138983151983158983141 Young Iraqis are accustomed to seeing mili tary vehicles on the street photo

from Iraq Enchantment of the World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena983148983141983142983156 983156983151983152 983156983151 983138983151983156983156983151983149 Brad Fleischer and Glenn Davis in the world premiere of BengalTiger at the Baghdad Zoo at the Kirk Douglas Theatre 983152983144983151983156983151 983138983161 983139983154983137983145983143 983155983139983144983159983137983154983156983162

American soldiers on patrolin Iraq photo from IraqEnchantment of the World byByron Augustin and Jake Kubena

When yoursquore thisfar from homeyou know yoursquorenever getting back

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

IRAQ

SAUDI ARABIA

IRAN

TURKEY

SYRIA

JORDAN

Baghdad

Salah ad Din

Diyala

Wasit

Maysan

Al Basrah

Dhi Qar

Al-Qādisiyyah

Al Muthanna

BabilKarbala

An Najaf

Al Anbar

Ninawa

Dahuk

Arbil

AsSulaymaniyah

At Tarsquomin

KUWAIT

BengalMuch of Bengal is often referred today as West Bengal astate of India located in the northeastern part of the countryForests occupy more than one-tenth of the total land areaof the state and t he region as a whole has a rich and variedplant life The forests are inhabited by tigers pantherselephants wild cattle and rhinoceroses as well as by other

animals of the Indian plain

Far From HomeThe characters of Kev and Tom are American soldiers serving in IraqThe Tiger is from Bengal and was captured and brought to the BaghdadZoo These characters are far from their homes during this play

Have you ever been a stranger in a strange land

What do you remember most about being far from home Howdid that experience change you

Iraq

Iraq is a country rich in ancient history It is believed to be the home ofthe Garden of Eden It was Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization wherewriting mathematics and the worldrsquos legal system began About the sizeof California Iraq is a triangle of mountains desert and a fertile river valleybounded on the east by Iran on the north by Turkey on the west by Syria andJordan and on the south by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait It sits between tworivers the Tigris and the Euphrates The country has arid desert land west ofthe Euphrates a broad central valley between the Euphrates and t he Tigrisand mountains in the northeast Iraq is a land rich in oil and it controls 10of the worldrsquos oil reserves

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital city of Iraq Located on t he Tigris River it was oncethe heart of Mesopotamia and one of t he worldrsquos largest and wealthiestcities as well as a center of Islamic culture education and civilization Itsname means ldquoGiven by Godrdquo in Persian and it is also called ldquoCity of PeacerdquoMany Muslims revere it as the center of the Arab and Islamic worlds whenthey were at the height of their grandeur In the West many know Baghdadas the mystic land told through The Thousand and One Nights adventures acollection rich in Middle Eastern stories In peaceful times modern Baghdadhas been a prosperous and sophisticated city with a rich cultural life full ofmuseums universities parks gardens and a zoo

Irsquom from Michigan Itrsquosshaped like a mitten I wasnever supposed to die here

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Algebra was even invented here you know InBaghdad by this dude Abu Jarsquofar Muhammadibn Musa al-KhwarizmiAnd algebra comes fromthe Arabic word al jebr which means lsquoa reunion ofbroken partsrsquo mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Occupation

When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 the USgovernment assumed we would be welcomed as liberatorsby the Iraqi people from the repression of Saddam Hussein

Instead when the military overturned Saddam Husseinrsquosgovernment the US military gained control of the securityof the country and became unwelcome occupiers In theplay the characters Kev and Tom are being ordered tocontrol the Iraqi people in the name of their own safety butthey do not speak Arabic and know nothing about Iraqiculture They care little for the place they are being orderedto protect

What does it mean to occupy a country

How do you imagine the Iraqi people view t heAmerican soldiers patrolling their country How doyou think the soldiers view the Iraqis

Imagine an occupation of the United States Howwould it feel to have soldiers from a differentcountry patrolling your home your school yourneighborhood What would you want to say to them ifyou were able to communicate

The American soldiers were given the responsibilityof guarding a country very different than their own Isit possible to truly care about and take care of placesthat we donrsquot belong to

This tranquilizer dart comesout of nowhere and I wakeup in Baghdad mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

New Delhi

INDIA

NEPAL

CHINA

BHUTAN

BANGLADESH

PAKISTAN

AFGHANISTAN

SRI LANKA

Tamil Nadu

Andhra Pradesh

Karnataka

Goa

Gujarat

JammuandKashmir

Punjab

Orissa

Jharkhand

Chhattisgarh

Tripura

Nagaland

Mizoram

Haryana

Rajasthan

Meghalaya

WestBengal

Bihar

Himachal Pradesh

Andaman andNicobarislandsLakshadweep

Assam

Uttaranchal

UttarPradesh

Manipur

Maharashtra

Madhya Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

Sikkim

Kerala

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

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TThe Baghdad Zoo once contained 600 animals and was the largest zoo in the MiddleEast occupying roughly 200 acres in central Baghdad Saddam Hussein closed the zoo forrenovation in 2002 intending to reopen it in April 2003 after a $50 million improvementHowever on March 19 2003 during fighting between the Iraqi and American forces in thearea heavy mortar rounds and tanks released or killed many of the animals Out of theoriginal 600 animals in the zoo only 35 had survived by the eighth day of the invasion Severallions escaped from the damaged zoo and were rounded up by American soldiers howeverthree were shot when they would not return to their cages

During the destruction of the grounds and absence of zoo staff cages were torn open andhundreds of animals and exotic birds were released or stolen by looters Zoo staff claimedmany of the birds and game animals were taken for fo od as pre-war food shortages inBaghdad were intensified by the invasion The remaining animals were found in criticalcondition dying of thirst and starving Many animals were found roaming the zoo grounds Inmid-April 2003 a conservationist from South Africa and two assistants from Kuwait arrivedto help bring relief and stability to the damaged zoo Working with the zoo directors and a fewreturning staff they cared for and fed the remaining animals restored hygiene standards andmade repairs As of May 2003 there were about 50 animals mostly big cats and carnivoreswhich were from private and public animal collections from around the city American civilaffairs soldiers and engineers helped rebuild the zoo and many former zoo employees havesince returned to their jobs

The zoo reopened in July 2003 and now falls into what is known as the Green Zone inBaghdad an area that contains most of Saddam Husseins city palaces and governmentdepartments and is under heavy US security Today the zoo has almost 1070 animals andhas become a popular destination for families from all over Iraq Animals at the zoo nowinclude lions tigers monkeys ostriches and an elephant With the decline in overall violenceand the withdrawal of US and coalition forces from the city centers in June of 2009 somedegree of normalcy has returned to the zoo The risk of bombings is still a security concernand visitors are frisked for weapons before entry Government security guards check bags andpicnic baskets for explosives and patrol the zoo grounds

What memories do you have of a trip to a zoo in Los Angeles or another city

Have you ever imagined the world through the eyes of an animal living in a zoo

What can we learn about war by looking at it through an animals perspective

BengalTiger atthe BaghdadZoo 6

983156983151983152An Iraqi man andhistwo sonsarrive at the BaghdadZoofor theunveilingof twoBengal tigercubs Aug8 photofrom NewsBlaze983149983145983140983140983148983141USArmy983152983144983151983156983151983138983161 983155983152983139983139983144983137983154983148983141983155983159983143983145983148983148983138983151983156983156983151983149Bengal tiger in the BaghdadZoo photofrom LosAngelesTimes983152983144983151983156983151 983138983161 983155983137983137983140 983147983144983137983148983137983142

ldquoAll rights reserved Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content including by framing or similar means is expressly prohibited without the prior writtenconsent of Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the worldcopy Thomson Reuters 2009 Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interestsrdquo

September 21 2003

By REUTERS

BAGHDAD Iraq Sept 20mdashAn American soldier shot and killed a Bengaltiger at the city zoo after the animal injured a colleague who was trying tofeed it through the cage bars the zoos manager said today

The manager Adil Salman Mousa said in an interview that some soldierswere having a party in the zoo on Thursday night after it had closed

Someone was trying to feed the tigers he said The tiger bit his finger offand clawed his arm So his colleague took a gun and shot the tiger

The night watchman said the soldiers had arrived in military vehicles butwere casually dressed and were drinking beer

There was no immediate comment from United States officials

But Mr Mousa said that officials had come to see him on Friday to discussthe shooting

The tiger was one of two in the zoo once the largest in the Middle Eastbut now a decrepit collection of dirty cages and sad-looking animals

In April American soldiers killed four lions that escaped from the zoo Hundreds of other animals were stolen or let loose by looters in theaftermath of the American militarys entry into Baghdad

US Soldier Kills Tigerin Baghdad Zoo

Discovery Guide 7

983145983150983156983141983154983158983145983141983159 983159983145983156983144 Rajiv JosephA conversation with playwright Rajiv Joseph and

Center Theatre Group Teaching Artist Marcos Najera

Baghdad Zoo

Marcos NajeraThe simple question is how did you get your start as awriter

Rajiv JosephI had always wanted to write since high school Orcollege I think college is mainly when I started thinkingabout it seriously as a possible career But when I wasin college an undergraduate I wanted to write fictionOr journalism But I was more concentrated on fiction Itook creative writing courses That was my major I didnrsquotknow exactly how to pursue it you know and I think thething about becoming a writer is itrsquos a combination ofobviously working hard but also finding what medium orwhat type of writing not only appeals to you the most but

also that you have a knack for So I think that writers arereally varied And I for one I really struggled with fictionwriting Even though I wanted to do it It was like my firstambition It didnrsquot come easily to me and everything Iwrote I just kind of didnrsquot like I was afraid to share withpeople and I had a really hard time motivating myself Ididnrsquot have a lot of discipline even though I had it in myhead that I wanted to do this

I traveled for a bit after college I was in the Peace Corpsfor a couple of years And I wrote a lot while I was therebut not really fictionmdashI just kind of wrote in my journaland was recording my thoughts about my experiences

Came back to New York and my ambitions switched toscreenwriting And I wrote a screenplay and that got meinto the Masterrsquos program at NYU (New York University)And when I was a student there I was forced to takeplaywriting classes And thatrsquos how I switched intoplaywriting I came into playwriting very late and also itwas not something I had initially considered an option formyself But once I found it I realized I found the writingthat kind of came easier for me and it was easier for meto motivate for and that I really took to in a very strongway And I was lucky you know to be able to find thatAnd then to have plays produced right after I got out ofgrad school

Marcos NajeraSo it just so happened that the playwriting was a partof it But had you gone to NYU and they didnrsquot offerplaywriting you would have gone to it anyway because ofyour interest in film

Rajiv Joseph

Right yeah I did not imagine that I would end up as aplaywright

Marcos Najera[Laughs] Thatrsquos fantastic So you knew you wereeventually going to have to take [a playwriting] class Andwhen you went into this class for the first time what wasit like

Rajiv JosephWell at first it was very frustrating And it was difficultyou know But the great thing about NYU is that [for]students there a lot of opportunities to go see plays forfree or for really cheap And so I started going to a lot oftheatre for the first time in my life the first time in NewYork seeing off-Broadway shows that were really inspiringto me And I started to realize that itrsquos a totally differenttype of writing playwriting compared to screenwritingThe craft of it is different

But also it just seemed to me and I think this is truethat you can have some pretty crazy and wild and originalideas as a playwright and that will get people excited

And so something like Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoomdashitrsquos a story about Iraq but the main character is a tiger ina zoo a lot of theatres when they heard that I think wereinterested in it But I donrsquot I canrsquot imagine pitching thatidea to a studio and them [saying] ldquoOh This is great Thisis gold You knowrdquo [Laughs]

Marcos NajeraWow talk about that Why wouldnrsquot Hollywood find thatattractive but [theatre] stages would

Rajiv JosephThe thing about Bengal Tiger is that it is really a theatricalpiece that wouldnrsquot translate very well on screen Partlybecause the idea of a tiger being played by a guy whois not in a tiger suit and doesnrsquot look anything like atigermdashbut in theatre you see that and you immediatelyaccept hersquos a tiger And for the rest of the play you haveno problem with that Whereas in a film that kind ofsuspension of belief is more difficult because film tendsto be a lot more literal than theatre

Marcos NajeraAnd for Bengal Tiger you saw this article (see previouspage) in the New York Times that inspired you to writethis story

Rajiv JosephYes I saw the article in the New York Times one of theback pages It was very deep within the paper It wasnrsquota major article at all I actually still have it I had it cutout and pasted it into a notebook Itrsquos three or fourparagraphs long and itrsquos about this event that happenedat the Baghdad Zoo at the start of the war Some bombshad blown open part of the zoo Some animals hadescaped Therersquos actually a documented story about apride of lions that had escaped and were running throughthe streets in the middle of a firefight and were also shotand killed by Marines And then of course there were alsothe people looting animals And so all of this led to themilitary assigning some soldiers to guard the zoo Andone night there were these two soldiers and one tried tofeed a Bengal tiger and he had his hand bitten and theother soldier shot and killed the tiger And that was kindof the end to the story I was struck by it And I startedthinking about that It seemed surreal to me And as Icontinued to think about it I decided to write a short littleplay about itmdashwhich of course turned into a longer thing[Laughs]

When the war was starting it was important for me totry and figure out what was going on How to try to bestunderstand what was going on and then being frustratedby the very fact that you canrsquot You can watch all the newsyou want you can read all the newspapers everythingyou can and still itrsquos up to you to kind of imagine whatrsquoshappening over there

Itrsquos a war that unless you are engaged with the media youcan be totally oblivious as an American citizen becausethe fighting is not really touching here Wersquore at war andyet we are going on with our lives Wersquore not in dangeranymore than we normally were As someone who wastrying to figure it all out I think that curiosity or that needto think about it in a different way led the writing of thatfirst scene

During that time there was a lot of anger in the air Thecountry seemed like a very different place than it is rightnow

Marcos NajeraI wonder what else was on your mind at the time as youwere trying to unravel all this happening in the world

Rajiv JosephI was just trying to wrap my head around what was goingon I remember also at a certain point I had taken ClassicDrama A lecture course in grad school We were studyingthe Persians by Aeschylus Our teacher mentioned to usthat Persians was written by a Greek playwright basicallyabout the enemy The Greeks were at war with thePersians He said this was an example of a playwrightwho took this imaginative leap to imagine the lives of theenemy in the play And he actually made the question hesaid ldquoWhat American playwright is going to write aboutIraqis in that sense This is a challenge to a playwrightmdashto imagine a world outside of himselfrdquo

And that also spoke to what I was thinking about thewar anyhow How I was frustrated with the fact thatas American citizens if we believe in Democracy weare complicit in this act of going to war And in beingcomplicit in it itrsquos a responsibility to pay attention to itand think about it

I was frustrated about how little I understood about whatwas going on And what it meant to be a US soldierthere and what it meant to be an Iraqi whose countrywas under attack All those feelings of having this desireto think about it or contemplate it led to the writing of

Bengal Tiger

Marcos Najera

Obviously you are also coming from a love of the filmworld too and I wonder if any movies inspired you forBengal Tiger

Rajiv JosephFast Cheap and Out of Control by Errol Morris who isprobably the finest of American makers of documentaryfilm This is a fascinating film that intersplices the fourinterviews of these four men They all have very differentjobs The challenge for the viewer is to try and figure outwhy he made this movie Why is he putting these peopletogether Therersquos a lion tamer a topiary artist a robotengineer and an expert on mole rats They are nevertogether they are just these separate interviews and theyare intertwined And Morris the filmmaker makes noexplanation as to why he is doing this He just kind ofallows you to watch The images and the ideas are justfascinating to me There was a moment in one of thedrafts of Bengal Tiger where I was watching that film andthinking the ideas that Irsquom getting out of this film arethe ideas that are now getting poured into Bengal Tiger Which is to say that my interpretation of the movie wasthat these four men were basically four ideas of God Oneis the God who tames the wild universe And one is Godthe creator the robot engineer who creates the universeand people and animals and watches them to see whathappens And one is God the topiary artist who takes theworld and shapes it to his liking and then one is Godmdashthe mole rat specialist who just watches and tries not totouch anything else Those kind of theological notions areclearly a part of the Tigerrsquos personality and quest

Marcos NajeraThatrsquos fascinating Irsquove got to go watch this documentarynow I think it will prepare me to see Bengal Tiger on

stage Thank you Speaking of preparation I wonder ifwe can touch on the violence that will be on stage Howdo you think we can prepare our students to watch thedifficult scenes that they will see on stage in BengalTiger

Rajiv JosephThe easy answer is that when you are showing a storyabout war itrsquos hard to avoid bullets and blood Buttherersquos also emotional violence and mental violence Tome it ends up being very much about stakes In dramayou want to create high stakes And when you thinkrealistically about this situation the world of this playand what these characters are going throughmdashitrsquos verydifficult to avoid violence When the tiger that you killedat the zoo is whispering in your ear at the hospital thatputs you in a pretty bad state Itrsquos also telling the truthabout things Soldiers do suffer from war And it doesdrive them to suicide and Iraqis have a long history nowof being tormentedmdashnot just by war but by the rule of[Saddam] Hussein and his sons And so when we seeMusa [the main character] tormented by Uday [son ofSaddam Hussein] and we understand what happenedto his sister these are things that are not exaggerationsAnd they are not there for shock value They are a way ofgetting at what many people went through and are goingthrough in Iraq

And I think that imagination [on a stage] is a means tounderstand those things that might be impossible toquite understand

983138983137983139983147983143983154983151983157983150983140Baghdad Zoo photofrom AnimalFair

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 56

The Tiger appears

TIGERThis place is lousy with ghostsAnd the new ones are irritating Theyre walking aroundwide eyed What happened to me Where am I Youredead and youre in Baghdad Shut up

Anyhow the other day Im walking down the street Thestreet is literally ON FIREAnd I see this little girl Her life is like a soap bubble andthen pop Shes here in the middle of the street looking upat me And she says to me What are you And I tell her Ima tiger And she says why

She says why

I dont know I tell her I just amWhich is true I dont want to lieShe asks me am I going to eat herAnd I say no I gave up eating childrenShe says whyAnd I say I dont know its this philosophy Im working outabout sin and redemption since God is apparently nuts

And the girl just kind of looks at me

And Im like think about it if Gods watching whyd hesnuff you out Why are you standing here alone in aburning street with a dead tigerWhy are you deadWhy is half your face gone

And she says yeah but whyd you give up eating children

And I tell her the bit about the two kids in the forest andhow I keep thinking about them and how I have all this guilt

She doesnt understand that The guilt thing She doesnthave any guilt And Im like of course you dont What didyou ever do Nothing

She tells me shes afraidI tell her I am tooWhich youd think would be comforting given thecircumstances but somehow being blown to bits and thencoming face to face with the likes of meWell the girl starts to cry you knowHer one eye cries

And I say dont cry But she cries harder And so I say to herHey do you want to see something amazing And she stopscrying for a second And shes like what

And I say its a I tell her its a gardenAnd she looks at me as if to say big fucking deal like Ihavent seen a garden beforeAnd I say no its a special garden

Lights up on the topiary animals

Its a special garden And I dont know why I say thisbut I say its Gods gardenI tell her its Gods gardenHe likes gardens see He tests us in them he tempts us inthem he builds them up and tears them apart Its like hisfucking hobbyAnd shes skeptical I can see that but I bring her here andshe sees these plants these animals and shes never seenanything like them before And I nailed it because shes notcrying anymore Shes walking around the garden pointing

A lion A camel An elephant

Fucking kids you know

And I mean this whole time Im talking out of my ass thisbusiness about Gods garden etcetera Maybe she knowsIm bullshitting too The girl is no dummy even if she doesonly have half a brainBut for a second we both look up at these ruined shrubs andthink okay Man You work in Mysterious Ways We get itAnd I feel this swell of hope

Monologue Act 2 mdash Scene 7

Reprinted with permission by the playwright

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 66

T983144983141 W983151983154983148983140 P983154983141983149983145983141983154983141 983151983142 B983141983150983143983137983148 T983145983143983141983154 983137983156 983156983144983141 B983137983143983144983140983137983140 Z983151983151 983159983137983155 O983154983145983143983145983150983137983148983148983161 P983154983151983140983157983139983141983140 983138983161 C983141983150983156983141983154 T983144983141983137983156983154983141 G983154983151983157983152 L983151983155 A983150983143983141983148983141983155

M983145983139983144983137983141983148 R983145983156983139983144983145983141 A983154983156983145983155983156983145983139 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154 C983144983137983154983148983141983155 D983145983148983148983145983150983143983144983137983149 M983137983150983137983143983145983150983143 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154

ReferencesConflict in Iraq Searching for Solutions by Choices for the 21st Century Education Program February 2008

Hunt Courtney The History of Iraq Greenwood Press 2005Ricks Thomas E Fiasco The American Military Adventure in Iraq The Penguin Press 2006

Carroll James Crusade Chronicles of an Unjust War Metropolitan Books 2004Munthe Turi Editor The Saddam Hussein Reader Selections from Leading Writers on Iraq Thunderrsquos Mouth Press 2002

Aziz Barbara Nimri Swimming Up the Tigris Real Life Encounters with Iraq The University Press of Florida 2007

SourcesAugustin Byron and Jake Kubena Iraq Enchantment of the World New York Childrens 2006 Print

Baghdad Zoo Animal Fair Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpwwwanimalfaircomhomep=3227gtIRAQ The Big Cats of Baghdad | Babylon amp Beyond Los Angeles Times Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttplatimesblogslatimescombabylonbeyond200808baghdad-the-bightmlgt

Tigers Make Big Roar in Baghdad Zoo NewsBlaze Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpnewsblazecomstory20080820110531zmilnbtopstoryhtmlgt

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo 8

Ukhuth eedee ishfee gissmee ilmitgettarsquo

ikhithnee min il-sahraarsquo Khelee bal-ee yirtahh

Take my hand heal my severed body take me from the desert Let my mind find peace

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

The Zagros Mountains rise in northeastern Iraq (983156983151983152) andIraqi children (983138983151983156983156983151983149) photos from Iraq Enchantment ofthe World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena

Page 4: Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 46

TThe Baghdad Zoo once contained 600 animals and was the largest zoo in the MiddleEast occupying roughly 200 acres in central Baghdad Saddam Hussein closed the zoo forrenovation in 2002 intending to reopen it in April 2003 after a $50 million improvementHowever on March 19 2003 during fighting between the Iraqi and American forces in thearea heavy mortar rounds and tanks released or killed many of the animals Out of theoriginal 600 animals in the zoo only 35 had survived by the eighth day of the invasion Severallions escaped from the damaged zoo and were rounded up by American soldiers howeverthree were shot when they would not return to their cages

During the destruction of the grounds and absence of zoo staff cages were torn open andhundreds of animals and exotic birds were released or stolen by looters Zoo staff claimedmany of the birds and game animals were taken for fo od as pre-war food shortages inBaghdad were intensified by the invasion The remaining animals were found in criticalcondition dying of thirst and starving Many animals were found roaming the zoo grounds Inmid-April 2003 a conservationist from South Africa and two assistants from Kuwait arrivedto help bring relief and stability to the damaged zoo Working with the zoo directors and a fewreturning staff they cared for and fed the remaining animals restored hygiene standards andmade repairs As of May 2003 there were about 50 animals mostly big cats and carnivoreswhich were from private and public animal collections from around the city American civilaffairs soldiers and engineers helped rebuild the zoo and many former zoo employees havesince returned to their jobs

The zoo reopened in July 2003 and now falls into what is known as the Green Zone inBaghdad an area that contains most of Saddam Husseins city palaces and governmentdepartments and is under heavy US security Today the zoo has almost 1070 animals andhas become a popular destination for families from all over Iraq Animals at the zoo nowinclude lions tigers monkeys ostriches and an elephant With the decline in overall violenceand the withdrawal of US and coalition forces from the city centers in June of 2009 somedegree of normalcy has returned to the zoo The risk of bombings is still a security concernand visitors are frisked for weapons before entry Government security guards check bags andpicnic baskets for explosives and patrol the zoo grounds

What memories do you have of a trip to a zoo in Los Angeles or another city

Have you ever imagined the world through the eyes of an animal living in a zoo

What can we learn about war by looking at it through an animals perspective

BengalTiger atthe BaghdadZoo 6

983156983151983152An Iraqi man andhistwo sonsarrive at the BaghdadZoofor theunveilingof twoBengal tigercubs Aug8 photofrom NewsBlaze983149983145983140983140983148983141USArmy983152983144983151983156983151983138983161 983155983152983139983139983144983137983154983148983141983155983159983143983145983148983148983138983151983156983156983151983149Bengal tiger in the BaghdadZoo photofrom LosAngelesTimes983152983144983151983156983151 983138983161 983155983137983137983140 983147983144983137983148983137983142

ldquoAll rights reserved Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content including by framing or similar means is expressly prohibited without the prior writtenconsent of Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the worldcopy Thomson Reuters 2009 Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interestsrdquo

September 21 2003

By REUTERS

BAGHDAD Iraq Sept 20mdashAn American soldier shot and killed a Bengaltiger at the city zoo after the animal injured a colleague who was trying tofeed it through the cage bars the zoos manager said today

The manager Adil Salman Mousa said in an interview that some soldierswere having a party in the zoo on Thursday night after it had closed

Someone was trying to feed the tigers he said The tiger bit his finger offand clawed his arm So his colleague took a gun and shot the tiger

The night watchman said the soldiers had arrived in military vehicles butwere casually dressed and were drinking beer

There was no immediate comment from United States officials

But Mr Mousa said that officials had come to see him on Friday to discussthe shooting

The tiger was one of two in the zoo once the largest in the Middle Eastbut now a decrepit collection of dirty cages and sad-looking animals

In April American soldiers killed four lions that escaped from the zoo Hundreds of other animals were stolen or let loose by looters in theaftermath of the American militarys entry into Baghdad

US Soldier Kills Tigerin Baghdad Zoo

Discovery Guide 7

983145983150983156983141983154983158983145983141983159 983159983145983156983144 Rajiv JosephA conversation with playwright Rajiv Joseph and

Center Theatre Group Teaching Artist Marcos Najera

Baghdad Zoo

Marcos NajeraThe simple question is how did you get your start as awriter

Rajiv JosephI had always wanted to write since high school Orcollege I think college is mainly when I started thinkingabout it seriously as a possible career But when I wasin college an undergraduate I wanted to write fictionOr journalism But I was more concentrated on fiction Itook creative writing courses That was my major I didnrsquotknow exactly how to pursue it you know and I think thething about becoming a writer is itrsquos a combination ofobviously working hard but also finding what medium orwhat type of writing not only appeals to you the most but

also that you have a knack for So I think that writers arereally varied And I for one I really struggled with fictionwriting Even though I wanted to do it It was like my firstambition It didnrsquot come easily to me and everything Iwrote I just kind of didnrsquot like I was afraid to share withpeople and I had a really hard time motivating myself Ididnrsquot have a lot of discipline even though I had it in myhead that I wanted to do this

I traveled for a bit after college I was in the Peace Corpsfor a couple of years And I wrote a lot while I was therebut not really fictionmdashI just kind of wrote in my journaland was recording my thoughts about my experiences

Came back to New York and my ambitions switched toscreenwriting And I wrote a screenplay and that got meinto the Masterrsquos program at NYU (New York University)And when I was a student there I was forced to takeplaywriting classes And thatrsquos how I switched intoplaywriting I came into playwriting very late and also itwas not something I had initially considered an option formyself But once I found it I realized I found the writingthat kind of came easier for me and it was easier for meto motivate for and that I really took to in a very strongway And I was lucky you know to be able to find thatAnd then to have plays produced right after I got out ofgrad school

Marcos NajeraSo it just so happened that the playwriting was a partof it But had you gone to NYU and they didnrsquot offerplaywriting you would have gone to it anyway because ofyour interest in film

Rajiv Joseph

Right yeah I did not imagine that I would end up as aplaywright

Marcos Najera[Laughs] Thatrsquos fantastic So you knew you wereeventually going to have to take [a playwriting] class Andwhen you went into this class for the first time what wasit like

Rajiv JosephWell at first it was very frustrating And it was difficultyou know But the great thing about NYU is that [for]students there a lot of opportunities to go see plays forfree or for really cheap And so I started going to a lot oftheatre for the first time in my life the first time in NewYork seeing off-Broadway shows that were really inspiringto me And I started to realize that itrsquos a totally differenttype of writing playwriting compared to screenwritingThe craft of it is different

But also it just seemed to me and I think this is truethat you can have some pretty crazy and wild and originalideas as a playwright and that will get people excited

And so something like Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoomdashitrsquos a story about Iraq but the main character is a tiger ina zoo a lot of theatres when they heard that I think wereinterested in it But I donrsquot I canrsquot imagine pitching thatidea to a studio and them [saying] ldquoOh This is great Thisis gold You knowrdquo [Laughs]

Marcos NajeraWow talk about that Why wouldnrsquot Hollywood find thatattractive but [theatre] stages would

Rajiv JosephThe thing about Bengal Tiger is that it is really a theatricalpiece that wouldnrsquot translate very well on screen Partlybecause the idea of a tiger being played by a guy whois not in a tiger suit and doesnrsquot look anything like atigermdashbut in theatre you see that and you immediatelyaccept hersquos a tiger And for the rest of the play you haveno problem with that Whereas in a film that kind ofsuspension of belief is more difficult because film tendsto be a lot more literal than theatre

Marcos NajeraAnd for Bengal Tiger you saw this article (see previouspage) in the New York Times that inspired you to writethis story

Rajiv JosephYes I saw the article in the New York Times one of theback pages It was very deep within the paper It wasnrsquota major article at all I actually still have it I had it cutout and pasted it into a notebook Itrsquos three or fourparagraphs long and itrsquos about this event that happenedat the Baghdad Zoo at the start of the war Some bombshad blown open part of the zoo Some animals hadescaped Therersquos actually a documented story about apride of lions that had escaped and were running throughthe streets in the middle of a firefight and were also shotand killed by Marines And then of course there were alsothe people looting animals And so all of this led to themilitary assigning some soldiers to guard the zoo Andone night there were these two soldiers and one tried tofeed a Bengal tiger and he had his hand bitten and theother soldier shot and killed the tiger And that was kindof the end to the story I was struck by it And I startedthinking about that It seemed surreal to me And as Icontinued to think about it I decided to write a short littleplay about itmdashwhich of course turned into a longer thing[Laughs]

When the war was starting it was important for me totry and figure out what was going on How to try to bestunderstand what was going on and then being frustratedby the very fact that you canrsquot You can watch all the newsyou want you can read all the newspapers everythingyou can and still itrsquos up to you to kind of imagine whatrsquoshappening over there

Itrsquos a war that unless you are engaged with the media youcan be totally oblivious as an American citizen becausethe fighting is not really touching here Wersquore at war andyet we are going on with our lives Wersquore not in dangeranymore than we normally were As someone who wastrying to figure it all out I think that curiosity or that needto think about it in a different way led the writing of thatfirst scene

During that time there was a lot of anger in the air Thecountry seemed like a very different place than it is rightnow

Marcos NajeraI wonder what else was on your mind at the time as youwere trying to unravel all this happening in the world

Rajiv JosephI was just trying to wrap my head around what was goingon I remember also at a certain point I had taken ClassicDrama A lecture course in grad school We were studyingthe Persians by Aeschylus Our teacher mentioned to usthat Persians was written by a Greek playwright basicallyabout the enemy The Greeks were at war with thePersians He said this was an example of a playwrightwho took this imaginative leap to imagine the lives of theenemy in the play And he actually made the question hesaid ldquoWhat American playwright is going to write aboutIraqis in that sense This is a challenge to a playwrightmdashto imagine a world outside of himselfrdquo

And that also spoke to what I was thinking about thewar anyhow How I was frustrated with the fact thatas American citizens if we believe in Democracy weare complicit in this act of going to war And in beingcomplicit in it itrsquos a responsibility to pay attention to itand think about it

I was frustrated about how little I understood about whatwas going on And what it meant to be a US soldierthere and what it meant to be an Iraqi whose countrywas under attack All those feelings of having this desireto think about it or contemplate it led to the writing of

Bengal Tiger

Marcos Najera

Obviously you are also coming from a love of the filmworld too and I wonder if any movies inspired you forBengal Tiger

Rajiv JosephFast Cheap and Out of Control by Errol Morris who isprobably the finest of American makers of documentaryfilm This is a fascinating film that intersplices the fourinterviews of these four men They all have very differentjobs The challenge for the viewer is to try and figure outwhy he made this movie Why is he putting these peopletogether Therersquos a lion tamer a topiary artist a robotengineer and an expert on mole rats They are nevertogether they are just these separate interviews and theyare intertwined And Morris the filmmaker makes noexplanation as to why he is doing this He just kind ofallows you to watch The images and the ideas are justfascinating to me There was a moment in one of thedrafts of Bengal Tiger where I was watching that film andthinking the ideas that Irsquom getting out of this film arethe ideas that are now getting poured into Bengal Tiger Which is to say that my interpretation of the movie wasthat these four men were basically four ideas of God Oneis the God who tames the wild universe And one is Godthe creator the robot engineer who creates the universeand people and animals and watches them to see whathappens And one is God the topiary artist who takes theworld and shapes it to his liking and then one is Godmdashthe mole rat specialist who just watches and tries not totouch anything else Those kind of theological notions areclearly a part of the Tigerrsquos personality and quest

Marcos NajeraThatrsquos fascinating Irsquove got to go watch this documentarynow I think it will prepare me to see Bengal Tiger on

stage Thank you Speaking of preparation I wonder ifwe can touch on the violence that will be on stage Howdo you think we can prepare our students to watch thedifficult scenes that they will see on stage in BengalTiger

Rajiv JosephThe easy answer is that when you are showing a storyabout war itrsquos hard to avoid bullets and blood Buttherersquos also emotional violence and mental violence Tome it ends up being very much about stakes In dramayou want to create high stakes And when you thinkrealistically about this situation the world of this playand what these characters are going throughmdashitrsquos verydifficult to avoid violence When the tiger that you killedat the zoo is whispering in your ear at the hospital thatputs you in a pretty bad state Itrsquos also telling the truthabout things Soldiers do suffer from war And it doesdrive them to suicide and Iraqis have a long history nowof being tormentedmdashnot just by war but by the rule of[Saddam] Hussein and his sons And so when we seeMusa [the main character] tormented by Uday [son ofSaddam Hussein] and we understand what happenedto his sister these are things that are not exaggerationsAnd they are not there for shock value They are a way ofgetting at what many people went through and are goingthrough in Iraq

And I think that imagination [on a stage] is a means tounderstand those things that might be impossible toquite understand

983138983137983139983147983143983154983151983157983150983140Baghdad Zoo photofrom AnimalFair

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 56

The Tiger appears

TIGERThis place is lousy with ghostsAnd the new ones are irritating Theyre walking aroundwide eyed What happened to me Where am I Youredead and youre in Baghdad Shut up

Anyhow the other day Im walking down the street Thestreet is literally ON FIREAnd I see this little girl Her life is like a soap bubble andthen pop Shes here in the middle of the street looking upat me And she says to me What are you And I tell her Ima tiger And she says why

She says why

I dont know I tell her I just amWhich is true I dont want to lieShe asks me am I going to eat herAnd I say no I gave up eating childrenShe says whyAnd I say I dont know its this philosophy Im working outabout sin and redemption since God is apparently nuts

And the girl just kind of looks at me

And Im like think about it if Gods watching whyd hesnuff you out Why are you standing here alone in aburning street with a dead tigerWhy are you deadWhy is half your face gone

And she says yeah but whyd you give up eating children

And I tell her the bit about the two kids in the forest andhow I keep thinking about them and how I have all this guilt

She doesnt understand that The guilt thing She doesnthave any guilt And Im like of course you dont What didyou ever do Nothing

She tells me shes afraidI tell her I am tooWhich youd think would be comforting given thecircumstances but somehow being blown to bits and thencoming face to face with the likes of meWell the girl starts to cry you knowHer one eye cries

And I say dont cry But she cries harder And so I say to herHey do you want to see something amazing And she stopscrying for a second And shes like what

And I say its a I tell her its a gardenAnd she looks at me as if to say big fucking deal like Ihavent seen a garden beforeAnd I say no its a special garden

Lights up on the topiary animals

Its a special garden And I dont know why I say thisbut I say its Gods gardenI tell her its Gods gardenHe likes gardens see He tests us in them he tempts us inthem he builds them up and tears them apart Its like hisfucking hobbyAnd shes skeptical I can see that but I bring her here andshe sees these plants these animals and shes never seenanything like them before And I nailed it because shes notcrying anymore Shes walking around the garden pointing

A lion A camel An elephant

Fucking kids you know

And I mean this whole time Im talking out of my ass thisbusiness about Gods garden etcetera Maybe she knowsIm bullshitting too The girl is no dummy even if she doesonly have half a brainBut for a second we both look up at these ruined shrubs andthink okay Man You work in Mysterious Ways We get itAnd I feel this swell of hope

Monologue Act 2 mdash Scene 7

Reprinted with permission by the playwright

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 66

T983144983141 W983151983154983148983140 P983154983141983149983145983141983154983141 983151983142 B983141983150983143983137983148 T983145983143983141983154 983137983156 983156983144983141 B983137983143983144983140983137983140 Z983151983151 983159983137983155 O983154983145983143983145983150983137983148983148983161 P983154983151983140983157983139983141983140 983138983161 C983141983150983156983141983154 T983144983141983137983156983154983141 G983154983151983157983152 L983151983155 A983150983143983141983148983141983155

M983145983139983144983137983141983148 R983145983156983139983144983145983141 A983154983156983145983155983156983145983139 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154 C983144983137983154983148983141983155 D983145983148983148983145983150983143983144983137983149 M983137983150983137983143983145983150983143 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154

ReferencesConflict in Iraq Searching for Solutions by Choices for the 21st Century Education Program February 2008

Hunt Courtney The History of Iraq Greenwood Press 2005Ricks Thomas E Fiasco The American Military Adventure in Iraq The Penguin Press 2006

Carroll James Crusade Chronicles of an Unjust War Metropolitan Books 2004Munthe Turi Editor The Saddam Hussein Reader Selections from Leading Writers on Iraq Thunderrsquos Mouth Press 2002

Aziz Barbara Nimri Swimming Up the Tigris Real Life Encounters with Iraq The University Press of Florida 2007

SourcesAugustin Byron and Jake Kubena Iraq Enchantment of the World New York Childrens 2006 Print

Baghdad Zoo Animal Fair Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpwwwanimalfaircomhomep=3227gtIRAQ The Big Cats of Baghdad | Babylon amp Beyond Los Angeles Times Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttplatimesblogslatimescombabylonbeyond200808baghdad-the-bightmlgt

Tigers Make Big Roar in Baghdad Zoo NewsBlaze Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpnewsblazecomstory20080820110531zmilnbtopstoryhtmlgt

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo 8

Ukhuth eedee ishfee gissmee ilmitgettarsquo

ikhithnee min il-sahraarsquo Khelee bal-ee yirtahh

Take my hand heal my severed body take me from the desert Let my mind find peace

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

The Zagros Mountains rise in northeastern Iraq (983156983151983152) andIraqi children (983138983151983156983156983151983149) photos from Iraq Enchantment ofthe World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena

Page 5: Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 56

The Tiger appears

TIGERThis place is lousy with ghostsAnd the new ones are irritating Theyre walking aroundwide eyed What happened to me Where am I Youredead and youre in Baghdad Shut up

Anyhow the other day Im walking down the street Thestreet is literally ON FIREAnd I see this little girl Her life is like a soap bubble andthen pop Shes here in the middle of the street looking upat me And she says to me What are you And I tell her Ima tiger And she says why

She says why

I dont know I tell her I just amWhich is true I dont want to lieShe asks me am I going to eat herAnd I say no I gave up eating childrenShe says whyAnd I say I dont know its this philosophy Im working outabout sin and redemption since God is apparently nuts

And the girl just kind of looks at me

And Im like think about it if Gods watching whyd hesnuff you out Why are you standing here alone in aburning street with a dead tigerWhy are you deadWhy is half your face gone

And she says yeah but whyd you give up eating children

And I tell her the bit about the two kids in the forest andhow I keep thinking about them and how I have all this guilt

She doesnt understand that The guilt thing She doesnthave any guilt And Im like of course you dont What didyou ever do Nothing

She tells me shes afraidI tell her I am tooWhich youd think would be comforting given thecircumstances but somehow being blown to bits and thencoming face to face with the likes of meWell the girl starts to cry you knowHer one eye cries

And I say dont cry But she cries harder And so I say to herHey do you want to see something amazing And she stopscrying for a second And shes like what

And I say its a I tell her its a gardenAnd she looks at me as if to say big fucking deal like Ihavent seen a garden beforeAnd I say no its a special garden

Lights up on the topiary animals

Its a special garden And I dont know why I say thisbut I say its Gods gardenI tell her its Gods gardenHe likes gardens see He tests us in them he tempts us inthem he builds them up and tears them apart Its like hisfucking hobbyAnd shes skeptical I can see that but I bring her here andshe sees these plants these animals and shes never seenanything like them before And I nailed it because shes notcrying anymore Shes walking around the garden pointing

A lion A camel An elephant

Fucking kids you know

And I mean this whole time Im talking out of my ass thisbusiness about Gods garden etcetera Maybe she knowsIm bullshitting too The girl is no dummy even if she doesonly have half a brainBut for a second we both look up at these ruined shrubs andthink okay Man You work in Mysterious Ways We get itAnd I feel this swell of hope

Monologue Act 2 mdash Scene 7

Reprinted with permission by the playwright

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 66

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M983145983139983144983137983141983148 R983145983156983139983144983145983141 A983154983156983145983155983156983145983139 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154 C983144983137983154983148983141983155 D983145983148983148983145983150983143983144983137983149 M983137983150983137983143983145983150983143 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154

ReferencesConflict in Iraq Searching for Solutions by Choices for the 21st Century Education Program February 2008

Hunt Courtney The History of Iraq Greenwood Press 2005Ricks Thomas E Fiasco The American Military Adventure in Iraq The Penguin Press 2006

Carroll James Crusade Chronicles of an Unjust War Metropolitan Books 2004Munthe Turi Editor The Saddam Hussein Reader Selections from Leading Writers on Iraq Thunderrsquos Mouth Press 2002

Aziz Barbara Nimri Swimming Up the Tigris Real Life Encounters with Iraq The University Press of Florida 2007

SourcesAugustin Byron and Jake Kubena Iraq Enchantment of the World New York Childrens 2006 Print

Baghdad Zoo Animal Fair Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpwwwanimalfaircomhomep=3227gtIRAQ The Big Cats of Baghdad | Babylon amp Beyond Los Angeles Times Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttplatimesblogslatimescombabylonbeyond200808baghdad-the-bightmlgt

Tigers Make Big Roar in Baghdad Zoo NewsBlaze Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpnewsblazecomstory20080820110531zmilnbtopstoryhtmlgt

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo 8

Ukhuth eedee ishfee gissmee ilmitgettarsquo

ikhithnee min il-sahraarsquo Khelee bal-ee yirtahh

Take my hand heal my severed body take me from the desert Let my mind find peace

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

The Zagros Mountains rise in northeastern Iraq (983156983151983152) andIraqi children (983138983151983156983156983151983149) photos from Iraq Enchantment ofthe World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena

Page 6: Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

8112019 Bengal Tiger Discovery Guide

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullbengal-tiger-discovery-guide 66

T983144983141 W983151983154983148983140 P983154983141983149983145983141983154983141 983151983142 B983141983150983143983137983148 T983145983143983141983154 983137983156 983156983144983141 B983137983143983144983140983137983140 Z983151983151 983159983137983155 O983154983145983143983145983150983137983148983148983161 P983154983151983140983157983139983141983140 983138983161 C983141983150983156983141983154 T983144983141983137983156983154983141 G983154983151983157983152 L983151983155 A983150983143983141983148983141983155

M983145983139983144983137983141983148 R983145983156983139983144983145983141 A983154983156983145983155983156983145983139 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154 C983144983137983154983148983141983155 D983145983148983148983145983150983143983144983137983149 M983137983150983137983143983145983150983143 D983145983154983141983139983156983151983154

ReferencesConflict in Iraq Searching for Solutions by Choices for the 21st Century Education Program February 2008

Hunt Courtney The History of Iraq Greenwood Press 2005Ricks Thomas E Fiasco The American Military Adventure in Iraq The Penguin Press 2006

Carroll James Crusade Chronicles of an Unjust War Metropolitan Books 2004Munthe Turi Editor The Saddam Hussein Reader Selections from Leading Writers on Iraq Thunderrsquos Mouth Press 2002

Aziz Barbara Nimri Swimming Up the Tigris Real Life Encounters with Iraq The University Press of Florida 2007

SourcesAugustin Byron and Jake Kubena Iraq Enchantment of the World New York Childrens 2006 Print

Baghdad Zoo Animal Fair Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpwwwanimalfaircomhomep=3227gtIRAQ The Big Cats of Baghdad | Babylon amp Beyond Los Angeles Times Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttplatimesblogslatimescombabylonbeyond200808baghdad-the-bightmlgt

Tigers Make Big Roar in Baghdad Zoo NewsBlaze Web 17 Mar 2010 lthttpnewsblazecomstory20080820110531zmilnbtopstoryhtmlgt

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo 8

Ukhuth eedee ishfee gissmee ilmitgettarsquo

ikhithnee min il-sahraarsquo Khelee bal-ee yirtahh

Take my hand heal my severed body take me from the desert Let my mind find peace

mdashBengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

The Zagros Mountains rise in northeastern Iraq (983156983151983152) andIraqi children (983138983151983156983156983151983149) photos from Iraq Enchantment ofthe World by Byron Augustin and Jake Kubena