by Rajiv Joseph
Come see the God exhibit! Come watch the beast play!
And we, the lousy dead, innumerable and in constant parade, would finally have our Holy Land ... a cage in a garden in a burning city. Ohhh ... What a fucking sight!
His eyes shut in a dream, a fantasy, for a moment. Then he opens them and realizes he is alone.
I’m fuckin hungry.
He goes to get the first-aid kit. Comes back, puts it down.
So I’m just gonna sit back and wait for something to walk by so I can kill it and eat it.
Rules of the hunt ...
Don’t fuckin move. Don’t make a sound.
Be conscious of the wind: where’s it coming from.
Be still.
Watch.
Listen.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
RAJIV JOSEPH would like to thank: the Lark Play Development Center program, through which all three of these plays were developed; SUNY Purchase School of the Arts Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film; Second Stage Theatre; the Center Theatre Group; the Alley Theatre; the National Endowment for the Arts; Giovanna Sardelli; Vanessa Gould; OrigamiUSA; and the Narcissist Book Club.
Copyright © 2010 by Rajiv Joseph. All rights reserved under International and
Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Joseph, Rajiv.
Gruesome playground injuries ; Animals out of paper ; Bengal tiger at the Baghdad Zoo :
three plays / Rajiv Joseph.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN : 978-1-593-76389-3
I. Joseph, Rajiv. Animals out of paper. II. Joseph, Rajib. Bengal tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. III. Title.
PS3610.O669G78 2010
822’.92--dc22
2010029075
Soft Skull Press
An Imprint of Counterpoint LLC
2117 Fourth Street
Suite D
Berkeley, CA 94710
www.softskull.com
www.counterpointpress.com
Distributed by Publishers Group West
CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that all materials in this book, being fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, the British Empire including the Dominion of Canada, and all other countries of the Copyright Union, are subject to royalty. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved. The stock and amateur performance rights in the English language throughout the United States, and its territories and possessions, Canada, and the Open Market are controlled by The Gersh Agency, 41 Madison Avenue, 33rd floor, New York, New York 10010, Attn: Seth Glewen. No professional or nonprofessional performances of the plays (excluding first-class professional performance) may be given without obtaining in advance the written permission of The Gersh Agency and paying the requisite fee. Inquiries concerning all other rights should be addressed to The Gersh Agency.