Rajiv Joseph
Early Life of Rajiv
Raji Joseph was born June 16th 1974 in Cleveland Ohio. His mother is of French and German ancestry and his father of indian ancestry who immigrated to the United States from India.
Growing up in Cleveland Heights, he was more of a singer and interested in musicals. When he was 11 he was cast in the ensemble of a community theatre production of "Nine", the Maury Yeston-Arthur Kopit musical based on the Fellini film about a director's creative and romantic problems. He also became fascinated with the precision of lyrics and word choices in "Nine," to drive the plot and character development.
He Attended Miami University where he was a member of the Men's Glee Club and a male acappella group, the Cheezies. After graduating from Miami University he went back to Ohio with a creative writing degree, but still no plays to his credit.
Mr. Joseph decided to join the peace corps, inspired by stories of his history teachers who had been members earlier.
Bio Compiled from:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Joseph
& peoplepill.com/people/rajiv-joseph
What Inspires Rajiv
He spent three years in a rural village in Senegal working with farmers on crop development and other assignments; during that time he moved from writing short stories to keeping a daily journal of his own moods, frustrations and breakthroughs with the villagers.
His time in Senegal helped him develop the discipline of daily writing and inspired his "fascination with the power of language"; as he has stated: "It felt a little like being a child again, because your language skills are on the level of a 4-year-old, so the adults kind of ignore you, but the children cluster around you telling you what everything is called".
“And then, after 9/11, I saw such sweeping anti-Islamic sentiment here after three years with people who were mostly Muslim. Being American, at home and out in the world, became something to write about.” How he was inspired to write “Bengal Tiger”
Gruesome Playground Injuries,” for instance, was inspired by a barroom conversation with a friend who shared tales of crazy injuries that he accumulated as a child. Mr. Joseph said he hit on the idea of charting a relationship between two kids through their wounds, though he initially imagined writing only a few scenes that adult actors could use to practice playing children. (He came up with the title, meanwhile, when his friend went to get more drinks.)
Joseph's first play, Huck & Holden, was about an Indian college student arriving in the United States, is based on his father's experiences coming to the States. His mixed-race background has given him what one critic has called a "fearlessness" about racial topics: "Being mixed-race has always been a part of my identity. You are never fully one thing or the other. You always feel a little apart, a little bit of an outsider, even when you are with your own family. That's an interesting perspective for looking at the world."c
Bio Compiled from:
peoplepill.com/people/rajiv-joseph
& nytimes.com/2011/01/02/theater/02rajiv.html
Gruseome Playground Injuries
Two eight-year-olds'meet in the nurse's office after both getting injured simultaneously. We follow their lives in an out of order age timeline as their pain addiction leads them to more and more injuries. But everytime they break a bone, their hearts grow closer together.
This play is a useful source text because it is accessible to actors of all ages, encourages them play with physical impediments and includes a variety of themese and metaphors.
SAMPLE ACTIVITY for GRUSOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES:
TARGET AUDIENCE - 12 and above
PREP WORK - Read Gruseome Playground Injuries
OBJECTIVE 1 - Write a scene where these same characters from Gruseome Playground Injuries meet at an age that is not included in the play. Come up with backstories on how they got two new injuries and let that inform the scene.
OBJECTIVE 2- Students will then cast their friends as the two characters and direct them in playing out their written scene. Students will also get to act in each other's scenes.
GOAL (As Writers)- Students can flex their creative writing muscles while still staying in the realms of a conceptual boundary set by a professional playwright.
GOAL (As Actors)- Students will get to flex their acting muscles by using physical impedaments while perfomring thier peers work.
GOAL (As Directors) - Students will get to direct their peers in their own written scene, getting first hand experience on what it's like to coach actors with physical impedaments.
GOAL (As Audience Members) - Students will get to compare and contrast other students written work and portrayal of the charcaters with their peers and learn how a strong foundation of a story can create limitless avenues of creative exploration.
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Robin Williams played the role of Tiger after his friend dropped out.
The pulitzer prize finalist, Bengal Tiger, follows the ghost of a quick-witted tiger, who haunts two American Marines and an Iraqi translator in the streets of war-torn Baghdad after they shoot him dead.
This play is a useful source text because it gives life to another side of a well known conflict which Non-military Americans may be unaware of.
Guards of the Taj
Two guards are handed the grueling task of protecting the Taj Mahal. It’s both funny and tragic and asks the question of how far you will go to protect something meaningful.
This play is a useful source text because it shows the value of preserving an important cultural monument. It is an oppurtunirty for students to learn about a landmark in a creative way and play scenes that make the projecting of such landmark feel life or death.
Comprehensive List of Plays:
Huck & Holden (2006)
All This Intimacy (2006)
The Leopard and the Fox (2007)
Animals Out of Paper (2008)
Gruesome Playground Injuries (2009)
The North Pool (2011)
The Monster at the Door (2011)
The Lake Effect (2013)
Guards at the Taj (2015)
Mr. Wolf (2015)
Describe the Night (2017)[40]
Archduke (2017)
In the Sick Bay of the Santa Maria (2019)
Films
Draft Day (2014), with co-writer Scott Rothman
Army of One (2016), with co-writer Scott Rothman
Additional Resources
Rajiv Interview on Gruseome Playground Injuries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4j4gVg-iXM
Rajiv Joseph Theatre Works Unforgettable:
Bibliography
Healy, Patrick. “A Little Good, a Little Evil, a Lot of Ritual.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Dec. 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/theater/02rajiv.html.
Brantley, Ben. “Love Hurts, and for Some Couples, That's the Point.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Feb. 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/theater/reviews/01gruesome.html.
“Gruesome Playground Injuries at Second Stage Theatre Midtown - Tony Kiser Theatre.” Second Stage Theatre Midtown - Tony Kiser Theatre, New York, NY - Tickets, Information, Reviews, https://www.newyorkcitytheatre.com/theaters/secondstagetheater/gruesome-playground-injuries.php.
“Look Back at Robin Williams in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo on Broadway.” Playbill, https://www.playbill.com/article/look-back-at-robin-williams-in-bengal-tiger-at-the-baghdad-zoo-on-broadway.
Gordon, Eric A. “‘Gruesome Playground Injuries’: Wounds, Blood, and Scars on Theatrical Display.” People's World, 2 June 2016, https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/gruesome-playground-injuries-wounds-blood-and-scars-on-theatrical-display/.
“Rajiv Joseph.” Rajiv Joseph | Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, https://tdps.berkeley.edu/rajiv-joseph.
“The Playfinder™.” Dramatists Play Service, Inc., https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=4343.
“Rajiv Joseph.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Joseph.
“Guards at the Taj.” Geffen Playhouse, https://www.geffenplayhouse.org/shows/guards-at-the-taj/.
“About Rajiv Joseph: American writer, 1974: Biography, Facts, Career, Life” https://peoplepill.com/people/rajiv-joseph
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