Animals Out of Paper
Photos:
Ned Averill-Snell
Jobsite
Theater, resident professional theater company at the Straz
Center in downtown Tampa, is thrilled to present Rajiv Joseph’s
Animals
Out of Paper on stage now through Aug. 7. “engaging
and sweetly comic.” - Daily News
The 2021-22 season concludes with this quirky romantic comedy
with heart, a show we’ve had planned now for four years (the
May 2020 production was suspended by the theater closures).
Ilana, a world-renowned origami artist, is going through a divorce,
her dog has run away, and she hasn’t answered her phone in two
months. Then her intercom buzzes and in walks Andy, a fan, a
high school teacher who counts his blessings. Literally — he’s
up to 7,904. Andy introduces Suresh, an urban teen iPod addict
and origami prodigy, into Ilana’s life, and the plot folds really
get complicated.
Animals Out of Paper is a wise and richly layered
comedy/drama from the Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of Bengal
Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Directed by ensemble member Tatiana
Baccari (her first time in the director’s chair for us, but
whom audiences might remember on stage from Cloud 9
or Othello).
“alternately
wrenching and funny. It deals ruthlessly with the fragility
of happiness, the tragedy of impulsiveness and the tenuousness
of hope.” - The New York Times
Photos:
Ned Averill-Snell
The
show stars Nicole Jeannine Smith (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde),
Cornelio “Coky” Aguilera (Romeo & Juliet), and
Faizan Basheer in his Jobsite debut.
Animals Out of Paper runs through Aug. 7 in the
Straz Center’s Shimberg Playhouse, and tickets start
at $39.50.
More
Info: https://www.jobsitetheater.org/animals-out-of-paper/
Read Tatiana’s director’s note
here.
In an interview with The Brooklyn Rail, Rajiv described
his inspiration for the story:
“I came into the subject in a strange way, since I don’t
fold origami at all,” he explains. “I had always been interested
in writing a play about a young prodigy. I’ve always liked chess,
but chess-prodigy stories have been done. One night I was sitting
on a Greyhound bus next to a woman who was folding origami and
we started talking. She told me she teaches children origami,
and she noted that every once in a while, a kid will understand
how to fold in a way that most other people cannot. She said
these kids ‘see folds before they happen’, which I thought was
fascinating, and which led me to the creation of this play.”
Rajiv Joseph (Playwright) is an award winning Indian-American
playwright whose plays include Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad
Zoo (Pulitzer Prize Drama Finalist, grant recipient for
Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for
the Arts), Guards at the Taj (Obie Award for Best New
American Play, Lortel Winner for Best Play), Describe the
Night (Obie Award for Best New American Play). Other plays
include In the Sick Bay of the Santa Maria, Archduke,
Gruesome Playground Injuries, The Lake Effect,
The North Pool and Mr. Wolf. Joseph has been awarded
artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists
and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. He is a board
member of the Lark Play Development Center in New York City,
where he develops all his plays. He served for three years in
the Peace Corps in Senegal and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.
FINAL
REMINDER
The 2022-23 season is on sale now through the end of
the month (July) at our lowest prices, up to 70% off
the price of single tickets. Individual tickets to the shows,
with the exception of Misery,
go on sale to the public on Aug. 1. Misery
will go on public sale Nov. 1.
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE:
https://www.jobsitetheater.org/2022-23-season
