Rajiv Joseph
Encyclopedia
Rajiv Joseph is an American playwright
and a 2010 Pulitzer Prize
finalist who occasionally has been confused with a substandard dentist of similar name.
Joseph was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio
; his mother is of French and German ancestry while his father immigrated to the States from India. He attended Cleveland Heights High School
and graduated from Miami University
in Oxford, Ohio
in 1996 with a B.A.
in Creative Writing
. While at Miami, Joseph was a tempestuous member of the university's premier male a capella group, the Cheezies.
Upon graduation Joseph joined the Peace Corps
, volunteering over three formative years in the West African Republic of Senegal
, including two years in Koular and the third in Kaolack
. Joseph has stated about his time there: "Being in Senegal, more than anything else in my life, made me into a writer." His time in Senegal helped him develop the discipline of daily writing and inspired his "fascination with the power of language". As he also 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".
After a brief stint with CPA2Biz, Joseph earned a Master of Fine Arts
in Dramatic Writing from New York University
's Tisch School of the Arts
in 2004, taught Essay Writing at New York University
and later wrote for Season 3 of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie
.
in 2005. The play also had a West Coast run at the Black Dahlia Theater in Los Angeles
the following year. Joseph has stated that the story, 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."
All This Intimacy premiered at New York
's McGinn/Cazale Theater in 2006. The TBG Theater featured Joseph's re-imagining of The Leopard and the Fox in 2007.
Second Stage Theatre
premiered Joseph's Animals Out of Paper in 2008. Subsequent productions of Animals Out of Paper have been staged at Boise Contemporary Theater
(2009), and at the Ensemble Theatre
in Sydney, Australia and San Francisco Playhouse in 2010. Upcoming productions of Animals Out of Paper will occur in Portland, Maine
(January 2011) and Fort Worth, Texas
(March 2011).
Joseph's Pulitzer finalist production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
, directed by Moisés Kaufman
, debuted at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
in Culver City, California
in May, 2009. It ran at the Mark Taper Forum
in Los Angeles
April 14 - May 30, 2010. Bengal Tiger will premiere on Broadway
in March 2011, with Robin Williams
playing the titular character.
Gruesome Playground Injuries, starring Selma Blair
and Brad Fleischer, had its world premiere in October 2009 at the Alley Theatre
in Houston, Texas
. Another staging at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
in Washington, D.C.
ran in May 2010. Its Off-Broadway
production opens January 2011 at the Second Stage Theatre
in New York City
, starring Pablo Schreiber
and Jennifer Carpenter
.
The North Pool will premiere at TheatreWorks
in Silicon Valley
in the Spring of 2011. The Monster at the Door debuts at Houston's Alley Theatre
in May 2011.
's Paula Vogel
Award given to emerging playwrights.
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was chosen by the NEA
in 2008 as one of two Outstanding New American plays.
Joseph received the 2009 Kesselring Fellowship awarded to emerging dramatists.
Joseph participated in the 10th Annual Sundance Playwrights Retreat in Ucross, Wyoming in February, 2009.
Animals Out of Paper received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for 'Outstanding Play' on April 2, 2009.
The 2009 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards
nominated Joseph for "Playwriting for an Original Play" for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. The play also won five Backstage Garland Awards in 2010.
Joseph also received a Whiting Writers' Award
in 2009, an international award given annually to 10 writers of fiction, nonfiction, plays, and/or poetry who show "exceptional talent and promise in early career".
On April 12, 2010 Joseph was named a Pulitzer Prize for Drama
finalist for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.
Joseph was named a 2010 USA Rockefeller Fellow by United States Artists
.
Joseph was a kinda proud member of the Miami University Men's Glee Club.
In May of 2010 and despite suffering from writer's cramp, Joseph was runner up in the Inaugural Redde Fox Air Hockey Championship.
On November 15, 2010, Joseph took part in the Urban Arts Partnership's "24 Hour Plays" at the American Airlines Theatre
, writing The Bitch Downstairs starring Jennifer Aniston
, Sam Rockwell
, Kyra Sedgwick
, Nia Vardalos
, and Lee Pace
.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and a 2010 Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
finalist who occasionally has been confused with a substandard dentist of similar name.
Joseph was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
; his mother is of French and German ancestry while his father immigrated to the States from India. He attended Cleveland Heights High School
Cleveland Heights High School
Cleveland Heights High School is the senior high school of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District.-History:Cleveland Heights High School was founded in 1901...
and graduated from Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
in Oxford, Ohio
Oxford, Ohio
Oxford is a city in northwestern Butler County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern portion of the state. It lies in Oxford Township, originally called the College Township. The population was 21,943 at the 2000 census. This college town was founded as a home for Miami University. Oxford...
in 1996 with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Creative Writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
. While at Miami, Joseph was a tempestuous member of the university's premier male a capella group, the Cheezies.
Upon graduation Joseph joined the Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
, volunteering over three formative years in the West African Republic of Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, including two years in Koular and the third in Kaolack
Kaolack
Kaolack is a town of 172,305 people on the north bank of the Saloum River and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an important regional market town and is Senegal's main peanut trading and processing center...
. Joseph has stated about his time there: "Being in Senegal, more than anything else in my life, made me into a writer." His time in Senegal helped him develop the discipline of daily writing and inspired his "fascination with the power of language". As he also 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".
After a brief stint with CPA2Biz, Joseph earned a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in Dramatic Writing from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
in 2004, taught Essay Writing at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and later wrote for Season 3 of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie is an American series that premiered on June 8, 2009, on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.The series stars Edie Falco as the title character Jackie Peyton, an emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City...
.
Theatrical credits
Joseph's first production, Huck & Holden, debuted at the Cherry Lane TheatreCherry Lane Theatre
The Cherry Lane Theatre , located at 38 Commerce Street in the borough of Manhattan, was New York City's oldest, continuously running off-Broadway theater...
in 2005. The play also had a West Coast run at the Black Dahlia Theater in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
the following year. Joseph has stated that the story, 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."
All This Intimacy premiered at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's McGinn/Cazale Theater in 2006. The TBG Theater featured Joseph's re-imagining of The Leopard and the Fox in 2007.
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
premiered Joseph's Animals Out of Paper in 2008. Subsequent productions of Animals Out of Paper have been staged at Boise Contemporary Theater
Boise Contemporary Theater
Boise Contemporary Theater is a small professional theater company located in Boise, Idaho. Since 1997, BCT has been the only professional theater company in Boise committed to performing a complete season of contemporary work, thereby filling a long vacant niche in the artistic landscape of Idaho...
(2009), and at the Ensemble Theatre
Ensemble Theatre
The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company, situated in Kirribilli, New South Wales. It is promoted as Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, established in 1958.- References :...
in Sydney, Australia and San Francisco Playhouse in 2010. Upcoming productions of Animals Out of Paper will occur in Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
(January 2011) and Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
(March 2011).
Joseph's Pulitzer finalist production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is a play by Rajiv Joseph. The show is about "a tiger that haunts the streets of present day Baghdad seeking the meaning of life. As he witnesses the puzzling absurdities of war, the tiger encounters Americans and Iraqis who are searching for friendship, redemption,...
, directed by Moisés Kaufman
Moisés Kaufman
Moisés Kaufman is a playwright, director and founder of Tectonic Theater Project. He is the author of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 33 Variations and is perhaps best known for writing The Laramie Project with other members of Tectonic Theater Project...
, debuted at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
Kirk Douglas Theatre
The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located in Culver City, California and in 2004, was acquired by the famed Center Theatre Group. The theatre is the most intimate of the group's three stages and seats 317 patrons at max occupancy.- History :...
in Culver City, California
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
in May, 2009. It ran at the Mark Taper Forum
Mark Taper Forum
The Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
April 14 - May 30, 2010. Bengal Tiger will premiere on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in March 2011, with Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
playing the titular character.
Gruesome Playground Injuries, starring Selma Blair
Selma Blair
Selma Blair is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. She has performed in feature films including Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde, The Sweetest Thing, Hellboy, The Fog, Purple Violets and Hellboy II: The Golden Army...
and Brad Fleischer, had its world premiere in October 2009 at the Alley Theatre
Alley Theatre
The Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning indoor theatre in Downtown Houston, Texas, and hosts two stages. The "Hubbard" is the main stage with seating for 824; the more intimate "Neuhaus" seats 310. Nine towers and open-air terraces give the Alley Theatre a castle-like quality. Inside, a staircase...
in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. Another staging at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company located at 641 D Street NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It produces new plays which it believes to be edgy, challenging, and thought-provoking...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
ran in May 2010. Its Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
production opens January 2011 at the Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, starring Pablo Schreiber
Pablo Schreiber
Pablo Tell Schreiber is an American actor known for his dramatic stage work and for his portrayal of the Polish-American character Nick Sobotka on HBO's Baltimore drug-related crime drama The Wire. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Awake and Sing! on Broadway...
and Jennifer Carpenter
Jennifer Carpenter
Jennifer Leann Carpenter is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Emily Rose in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Debra Morgan on Dexter, and the lead role in the 2008 horror movie Quarantine.-Early life:...
.
The North Pool will premiere at TheatreWorks
TheatreWorks
TheatreWorks may refer to:*TheatreWorks *TheatreWorks *TheatreWorks *Theatreworks *Theatreworks *Theatreworks USA*TheaterWorks...
in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
in the Spring of 2011. The Monster at the Door debuts at Houston's Alley Theatre
Alley Theatre
The Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning indoor theatre in Downtown Houston, Texas, and hosts two stages. The "Hubbard" is the main stage with seating for 824; the more intimate "Neuhaus" seats 310. Nine towers and open-air terraces give the Alley Theatre a castle-like quality. Inside, a staircase...
in May 2011.
Awards
In 2008, Joseph was awarded the Vineyard TheatreVineyard Theatre
The Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Its first production was in 1981...
's Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel is an American playwright and university professor. She received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive.-Early years:...
Award given to emerging playwrights.
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was chosen by the NEA
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
in 2008 as one of two Outstanding New American plays.
Joseph received the 2009 Kesselring Fellowship awarded to emerging dramatists.
Joseph participated in the 10th Annual Sundance Playwrights Retreat in Ucross, Wyoming in February, 2009.
Animals Out of Paper received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for 'Outstanding Play' on April 2, 2009.
The 2009 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards
Ovation Awards
The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the Los Angeles Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. They have been called the "...highest-profile contest for local theatre..." by the Los...
nominated Joseph for "Playwriting for an Original Play" for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. The play also won five Backstage Garland Awards in 2010.
Joseph also received a Whiting Writers' Award
Whiting Writers' Award
The Whiting Writers' Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation and has been presented since 1985. As of 2007, winners receive US $50,000.-External links:**...
in 2009, an international award given annually to 10 writers of fiction, nonfiction, plays, and/or poetry who show "exceptional talent and promise in early career".
On April 12, 2010 Joseph was named a Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
finalist for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.
Joseph was named a 2010 USA Rockefeller Fellow by United States Artists
United States Artists
United States Artists is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles, California and dedicated to supporting the work of living American artists by the granting of cash awards, called USA Fellowships...
.
Quotation
"The need to tell a very interesting and compelling story makes certain then that my plays are not in the least bit autobiographical." Rajiv Joseph, 2008Little Known Facts
Joseph acted in the experimental interactive commercial "The Pitchman" in 2009.Joseph was a kinda proud member of the Miami University Men's Glee Club.
In May of 2010 and despite suffering from writer's cramp, Joseph was runner up in the Inaugural Redde Fox Air Hockey Championship.
On November 15, 2010, Joseph took part in the Urban Arts Partnership's "24 Hour Plays" at the American Airlines Theatre
American Airlines Theatre
The American Airlines Theatre is a Broadway theatre, located at 227 West 42nd Street, New York City.-Design:Originally named the Selwyn Theatre, it was constructed by the Selwyn brothers, Edgar and Archie, in 1918. It was one of three theatres they built and controlled on 42nd Street, along with...
, writing The Bitch Downstairs starring Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...
, Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
, Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American actress.Sedgwick is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010...
, Nia Vardalos
Nia Vardalos
Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Personal life:...
, and Lee Pace
Lee Pace
Lee Grinner Pace is an American actor. Pace has been featured in film, stage and television. He is known best for his starring role as Ned in the ABC series Pushing Daisies for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2008.-...
.