K12 Playkit

K12 PlayKits are designed to make theatre in schools simple! Hand-picked by a team of professional educators, they put everything schools need for a successful production right at your fingertips; high-quality scripts, student-friendly materials, and streamlined performance rights without the hassle or uncertainty of traditional licensing. With no hoops to jump through, you can focus on what really matters: creating inspiring productions with your students.

Baghdad Zoo by Kevin Dyer

PlayKit | Baghdad Zoo

by Kevin Dyer

It’s 2003 and bombs are going off all over Baghdad. Iraq is being invaded and under the table are five frightened children whose parents have not come back. And at Baghdad Zoo things are just as bad. There is no one to feed the animals because the keepers have all fled. It’s down to our children to save the day and protect the animals, because no one else will.

$80.00

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Quick Details

  • Type: Play
  • Length: 45-60 minutes
  • Availability: Available for productions in North America
  • Cast Size: 18 roles plus ensemble | Doubling possible

Full Details

The Children under Leyla's table:

  • Leyla: 11, the big sister
  • Amira: 10, the middle sister
  • Sabeen: 8, youngest sister and baby of the family
  • Hakim: 9, middle brother
  • Farah: 11, cousin to Leyla, Amira, Hakim, and Sabeen

The Animals:

  • Three Lions
  • The Bear
  • The African Badger
  • The Monkeys
  • Two Peacocks
  • The Gorilla
  • Other animals to be added by ensemble

Other Roles:

  • Soldier 49984
  • Soldier 38389
  • The Lost People of Baghdad

The following resources are included in each PlayKit:
  • Opening Act Edition PDF script
  • Opening Act performance license for 1-8 performances (choose the number of performances using drop-down bar)
  • Copy license to copy included PDF script for your cast, crew, and production team. There is no additional cost for scripts! 
  • Media pack including logo PNG & SVG's as well as template poster files.
  • Director's Guide with tips, suggested rehearsal activities, FAQ, and more!

Kevin Dyer

Kevin became a writer at the age of nine and a half when his teacher, Mister Fox, typed up a story he had written. The fact that one month later the nice Mr. Fox ran him over in his car (true!) did not deter him. He is now a playwright with over 50 commissioned plays behind him.

Kevin recently won the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Best Play Award for The Syrian Baker. He also won the Guild’s Best Play for Young Audiences with The Monster Under the Bed. It was also shortlisted for the Brian Way Award and the John Whiting Award. The Monster Under the Bed was presented at the Kennedy Center for the Arts New Visions/New Voices festival. ASSITEJ has awarded him their Most Inspirational International Playwright Award.

His plays include Baghdad Zoo (York Theatre Royal), The Bridge (Dundee Rep), Giving it Back (BBC Radio Four), Beauty and the Beast, Jason and the Argonauts, Merlin, The Hobbit and The Adventures of King Arthur (Dukes Lancaster), Night Train, Generations, A Million Shades of Pink, and 12 Miles from Nowhere (Action Transport Theatre). Kevin is a published, prize-winning poet, a leader of creative-writing sessions, an actor, a theatre director, and Associate Writer for Theatre Porto and Lead Artist for Storm in the North. He was short-listed for the prestigious Brian Way Award for his radical reworking of Coleridge's The Rime of The Ancient Mariner (Sixth Sense). Angel, a play about a young girl and on older woman with dementia, was originally produced at Theatre Hullabaloo, was also shortlisted for the Writer's Guild Award for Best Play for Children and Young people.

Baghdad Zoo was originally produced by Birmingham Rep and Action Transport, UK, in 2014

Photos from production at Fort Wayne Youtheatre

Photos from production at Fort Wayne Youtheatre

Photos from production at Fort Wayne Youtheatre