Rajiv Joseph

Rajiv Joseph (born June 16, 1974) is an American playwright.

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 he was a member of the university's Men's Glee Club and its male a cappella group, the Cheezies.

Following graduation Joseph joined the Peace Corps, serving 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 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".

Joseph earned a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2004.

He has taught Essay Writing at New York University and wrote for Seasons 3 and 4 of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie.

Joseph's first play, Huck & Holden, debuted at the Cherry Lane Theatre in January 2006.

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 City's McGinn/Cazale Theater in 2006.

Joseph's play The Leopard and the Fox, concerning the overthrow of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was produced Off-Off-Broadway in October to November 3, 2007, at the TBG Theatre at The Barrow Group.

Second Stage Theatre presented the world premiere of Joseph's Animals Out of Paper which ran from July 14, 2008 (previews) to August 24, 2008, at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre.

Animals Out of Paper has been staged at Boise Contemporary Theater (2009), at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, Australia, at San Francisco Playhouse in 2010, 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.

Gruesome Playground Injuries, starring Selma Blair and Brad Fleischer, had its world premiere in October 2009 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas.

He was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and he won an Obie Award for Best New American Play for his play Describe the Night.

Rajiv Joseph was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.

His mother is Euroamerican of French and German ancestry and his father is from the South Indian state of Kerala.

It ran at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles from April 14 to May 30, 2010, and premiered on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in March 2011, with Robin Williams playing the titular character.

Another staging at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. ran in May 2010.

Its Off-Broadway production opened January 2011 at the Second Stage Theatre, starring Pablo Schreiber and Jennifer Carpenter.

The North Pool premiered at TheatreWorks in Silicon Valley (California) in March–April 2011.

It was called a "Psychological Thriller" by TheatreWorks.

The Monster at the Door debuted at Houston's Alley Theatre in May 2011.

The Barrington Stage Company, The Berkshires presented The North Pool in July 2012.

In October 2013 it had its premiere in San Francisco at San Francisco Playhouse where it was very well received in the press.

The played opened Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in February 2013 (previews), directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

The Lake Effect premiered at Chicago's Silk Road Rising on April 23, 2013.

The production received the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work.

In September 2014, Joseph's Animals Out of Paper had its Los Angeles, California premiere at East West Players starring C.S. Lee, Tess Lina, and Kapil Talwalkar.

Animals out of Paper was presented in Bangalore, India in September 2014 at Jagriti Theatre.

It was produced by Jugaad Co. and got very good reviews.

The production featured close to 75 pieces of origami.

Its TheatreWorks in Silicon Valley production opened March 2015, starring Adam Poss, Nilanjana Bose and Jason Bowen.

His play Guards at the Taj premiered Off-Broadway, produced by the Atlantic Theatre Company, in June to July 2015, directed by Amy Morton.

The play was nominated for the 2016 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Director, Amy Morton, and won for Outstanding Play; Outstanding Scenic Design, Timothy R. Mackabee; Outstanding Lighting Design, David Weiner; and Outstanding Sound Design, Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen.

The play won the 2016 Obie Awards for Best New American Play and Performance (Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed).