THEATER: "The Leopard & The Fox," A NYC Play About Pakistan
  
As Benazir Bhutto plans her return tomorrow, Oct. 18, to Pakistan, a timely play opens tonight in NYC.
  
Alter Ego presents The Leopard and The Fox, Rajiv Joseph’s Machiavellian political drama about the last days of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, inspired by noted writer and political activist Tariq Ali’s BBC teleplay by the same name at TBG Theater, October 17 – November 3.  Ali’s screenplay, which was originally written for the BBC in 1985, covers Bhutto, Pakistan’s first popularly elected prime minister, as he is betrayed in a coup by his closest confidante and
army chief, General Zia ul-Haq.  Joseph updates the story to include Bhutto’s daughter in 2007, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, as she negotiates with current president Pervez Musharraf to end her self-exile, return to Pakistan and share power.
  
In current headlines, Benazir Bhutto has vowed to return to her native land on October 18, one day after The Leopard and The Fox opens.
  
Details below. What do you think? Post your comments, please.
  
Contact:
Shourin Roy, 646-662-6057
shourinroy@alteregoproductions.org
Press kits & photos will be available at
www.alteregoproductions.org
  
ALTER EGO PRESENTS THE LEOPARD AND THE FOX - THE PREVIOUSLY CENSORED STORY OF THE LAST DAYS OF ZULFIQAR ALI BHUTTO, THE FIRST POPULARLY ELECTED PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN AND FATHER OF BENAZIR BHUTTO
  
Alter Ego presents The Leopard and The Fox, Rajiv Joseph’s Machiavellian political drama about the last days of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, inspired by noted writer and political activist Tariq Ali’s BBC teleplay by the same name at TBG Theater, October 17 – November 3.  Ali’s screenplay, which was originally written for the BBC in 1985, covers Bhutto, Pakistan’s first popularly elected prime minister, as he is betrayed in a coup by his closest confidante and
army chief, General Zia ul-Haq.  Joseph updates the story to include Bhutto’s daughter in 2007, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, as she negotiates with current president Pervez Musharraf to end her self-exile, return to Pakistan and share power.
  
In current headlines, Benazir Bhutto has vowed to return to her native land on October 18, one day after The Leopard and The Fox opens.
  
British novelist, historian and political activist Tariq Ali, best known for his critically acclaimed and widely read The Clash of Fundamentalisms, wrote the original screenplay in the politically sensitive mid-80s.  During this time, the US was reportedly exerting pressure on Zia as president of Pakistan, to arm and train the mujahideens who were waging war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Amidst the screenplay’s implications that the CIA was
involved in Bhutto’s coup, the BBC came under legal pressure to censor The Leopard and The Fox and it was never produced.
  
Alter Ego Productions is thrilled to present the world premiere of The Leopard and the Fox, their first collaboration with acclaimed South Asian American playwright Rajiv Joseph.  Joseph’s previous works include the much-lauded South Asian American coming of age story Huck and Holden at the Cherry Lane, and the romantic comedy
All That Intimacy at Second Stage.  He has upcoming commissions for both Second Stage and South Coast Repertory, and his Iraq war dramatic comedy Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo will be produced by Center Theatre Group at the Los Angeles’ Kirk Douglass Theatre in the 2008-09 season. Director Giovanna Sardelli is a longtime
collaborator of Joseph’s, directing both Huck and Holden and All That Intimacy, as well Bengal Tiger at the Lark theater earlier this year.
  
Previous Alter Ego productions include the world premiere of David Freeman’s A First Class Man, about math wizard Srinivasa Ramanujan, and the long-awaited New York premiere of Tony award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink, starring Sendhil Ramamurthy (of NBC’s “Heroes”). Indian Ink was listed by TheaterMania as
“Shows You Should Have Seen But Probably Didn’t”, and Curtain Up has declared “Alter Ego is a theatre company to watch.”
  
The cast features: Ramiz Monsef* (recently Big Stone in Second Stage’s sold-out run of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice), Andrew Guilarte (of Desipina’s popular Seven-11 play series), Gita Reddy (Topsy Turvy Mouse at the Cherry Lane Mentor Project), Sanjiv Jhaveri*, Rock Kohli*, Michael Crane* and David Sajadi*.
  
* appearing courtesy the Actors Equity Association. Equity approved Showcase
  
The Leopard and the Fox runs October 17 to November 3, 2007, with performances Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 pm.
  
Venue: TBG Theater, 312 W. 36th St (between 8th and 9th Avenues), New York City.
Tickets: $18, available at www.smarttix.com; or call 212-868-4444.
For press seats, contact Shourin Roy, above.