Animals Out Of Paper

By Rajiv Joseph

Directed by Tatiana Baccari

Jul. 15 – Aug. 7, 2022

Tickets start at $29.50

Preview Performances: Jul. 13 – 14 | Tickets start at $18

Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts

engaging and sweetly comic.

We are thrilled to end our 2021-22 season with this quirky romantic comedy with heart!

What It’s About

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.

Our Production

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 Nine or Othello), it stars Nicole Jeannine Smith (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde), Cornelio “Coky” Aguilera (Romeo & Juliet), and Faizan Basheer in his Jobsite debut.

More Background

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.”

alternately wrenching and funny. It deals ruthlessly with the fragility of happiness, the tragedy of impulsiveness and the tenuousness of hope.

(L-R) Cornelio Aguilera, Nicole Jeannine Smith, and Faizan Basheer in Jobsite's Animals Out Of Paper. (Photo: Ned Averill-Snell)
(L-R) Cornelio Aguilera, Nicole Jeannine Smith, and Faizan Basheer in Jobsite's Animals Out Of Paper. (Photo: Ned Averill-Snell)

Media

Gallery

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Cast & Crew

  • Tatiana Baccari – Director

Cast

  • Cornelio “Coky” Aguilera – Andy
  • Faizan Basheer – Suresh
  • Nicole Jeannine Smith – Ilana

Design Team and Crew

  • Teah Banks – Stage Manager/Properties
  • Nicole Crandall – Stage Management Apprentice
  • Brian Smallheer – Scenic Designer/Technical Director
  • Tea Roberts – Scenic Artist
  • Jo Averill-Snell – Lighting Designer
  • Connor Averill-Snell – Assistant Lighting Designer
  • James Swallow  – Master Electrician
  • Percy Hartley – Stage Electrician
  • Jeremy Douglass – Sound Designer
  • Katrina Stevenson – Costume Designer

Patron Reviews

Blog Us

Want to add a groovy graphic like this to your blog or website?

Jobsite provides a variety of cool banners that you can put on your website. AND they update automatically. So just drop it in once, and when we’re ready for our next show, we’ll update the graphic, and it’ll automatically update on your site too!

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