From Bloomington to Broadway: IU alumnus receives Tony nomination

Practicing on the caving-in roof of his New York City apartment, three months behind in rent and only a few months after he graduated from IU, Arian Moayed would have called becoming a Tony-nominated actor insane. Now, only a decade later, not much has changed.

“Still, it’s insane. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Moayed said. “Not to say I don’t believe in the production or the work of everyone involved, it’s just one of those things I never thought about.”

In May, Moayed received a 2011 Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Feature Role in a Play for his breakthrough Broadway performance as Musa in “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.”

The play, which has been recognized as a Pulitzer Prize finalist for its comedic twist to contemporary issues, is about a tiger (played by Robin Williams) that haunts the streets of Baghdad seeking the meaning of life as he witnesses the realities of the American/Iraqi war.

Though the play’s realistic insight to modern politics might come as a shock to some, sophomore theater and drama major David-Aaron Roth said he believes the ability to discuss such issues is exactly the purpose of the theater.

“I think theater has a large role in bringing to light ideas that the general population might shun,” Roth said. “There’s a reason why politics are important and theater allows you to go there.”

As Musa, Moayed plays an Iraqi translator who loses his job as a topiary gardener after the American invasion. After watching the clips, Roth said Moayed takes risks that he believes all actors should take.

Along with great comedic timing and voice, Moayed conveys his character’s powerless and out-of-place feelings in comparison to the American soldier.

Moayed said Musa’s story is basically the story of every immigrant and a story that runs parallel to his own.

“It’s a personal story to myself,” Moayed said. “My parents came from Iran to America and this was their reality.”

The most difficult part of his role was the physical demand. Moayed said in all but one scene he gets either emotionally or physically abused, which includes being thrown and kicked, but the impact of the role was worth all of the abuse for him.

“I aim at something to the effect of ‘Wow, I never knew how hard someone from Iraq has it,’” Moayed said. “Those are the things that make it most worth it.”

One of his favorite moments of being in the play was meeting a group of Iraqi refugees who were moved by it — one specifically saying “thank you for telling my story.”

But human impact isn’t something new to Moayed’s agenda. After graduating from IU, Moayed, along with fellow graduate Tom Ridgely, set out to New York City with the goal to make theater “highly accessible, entertaining, empowering and enlightening” through their Bloomington-founded company, Waterwell.

Since its creation in 2002, Waterwell has won a number of awards for its productions and has been a part of educating its audiences as well as young performers.

“Knowing I’ve impacted lives, 250 kids and 15 teachers, is more than enough for me,” he said. “One kid’s poetry took him all the way to state and that’s something that has changed his life.”

Moayed said the one thing that hasn’t changed lives, even his own, is being Tony-nominated.

“In a weird way nothing changes,” Moayed said. “I mean, I am thankful and I love the fact that I am nominated, but I still have my family. My two kids don’t know what a Tony award is and they don’t give a shit.”

However, Moayed agreed with Roth that the nomination will be beneficial to Moayed’s past programs, including the IU Theater Department.

“I think it really puts some respectability behind our department,” Roth said. “It really makes us look good in a way that re-emphasizes that our program is really solid.”

Moayed said that his time at IU was spent being a part of as many productions as possible (14 total), and he encourages aspiring performers to take advantage of those opportunities as well.

“IU has got this amazing ability to let you be a part of so much at once,” Moayed said. “My only advice is to keep on creating shows, playing, having fun, working with others, getting together and just do, do, do. It’s the only way to get better.”

Moayed follows his own advice, too, as he keeps busy working on his debut screen-play “This Island Made Me” and maintaining work with Waterwell until the Tony winners are announced  beginning at 8 p.m. EST June 12 on CBS.

Until then, Roth said he just wanted to ask Moayed, “How cool is it to be Tony-nominated?”

Moayed had one reply.

“It’s great, but if I can keep doing work that will hopefully change the future for my girlfriend and my kids. Now that would be amazing — might be idealistic, but that’s just me.”