They have the world by the tail

Would you own a tiger?

That's the question Haymaker theater company asks in "Living with the Tiger," an original play now featured at Durham's Manbites Dog Theater.

"In this case it's literally ripped from the headlines," said Akiva Fox, one of the three performers in the new Durham-based company.

In 2003, police in Harlem responded to a call about an animal bite. Neighbors later told police a wild animal was in the 19-story apartment house, according to news reports. Police returned, cut a hole in the door and discovered a 400-pound Bengal tiger.

The story became the grist for Haymaker's one-act play. It asks why would someone keep a dangerous wild animal? And what does it say about a society where that happens? The question is especially timely in the wake of last week's Ohio drama, in which authorities shot nearly 50 wild animals after their owner threw their cages open and committed suicide.

Haymaker found there are an estimated 3,000 tigers in the wild but 5,000 in private hands. It's legal to own a tiger in 22 states, including North Carolina, though local governments may impose restrictions.

"That story couldn't be ignored," Fox, 31, said between rehearsals. "And we thought, something is going on in America.

"In this country you can do almost anything, and the question is, should you?"

Haymaker is Fox, Emily Hill and Dan VanHoozer. They met working for The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., and came to Durham because they saw artists contributing to a new urban energy.

"We saw there was room for more, and we wanted to be a part of that," Fox said.

Reality and metaphor

In the play, Hill, 29, plays a career woman chasing the American dream. The tiger in her life is real, but it's also a metaphor for what else she and others who keep dangerous animals may really be after.

Hill's excited about Haymaker. The name means a wild punch, but also a literal haymaking machine that symbolizes the act of creating.

Hill wants people to anticipate each production, to come to shows because they know whatever the group is doing will make them think.

"I'm realistic to know not everything is everybody's cup of tea," she said. "Some people are not going to connect with it, and I think that's OK. That's what art is."

Director Colin Hovde, 31, calls Haymaker's three artists smart and gritty.

"I see a lot of theater, and sometimes I think the productions forget about the audience, or they look at the audience as just a consumer buying a product," he said. "I think they're really focused on (asking themselves) what are we giving?"

VanHoozer, 33, was studying pre-med when he saw a play where Shakespeare's Falstaff asks "What is honour? ...Air."

The actor in the play made a gesture - VanHoozer lifts his hands to his lips, gently blows into his fingertips and whisks the breath away.

"I felt goose bumps in the 10th row," he said. "And I was like, 'What is that?' "

His character, a hardscrabble guy, sees the tiger as his meal ticket, his way out. After seeing the big cats up close in a sanctuary, VanHoozer understands the allure, even if you risk becoming the meal ticket's meal.

"There's something about being in the presence of something greater than you, something in its natural state," he said. A tiger has no doubt, he continues. "Part of the play is about coming to recognize who you really are. A tiger doesn't have to do that. A tiger's always a tiger."

His father, a Vietnam veteran, once saw a wild tiger cross the road while on patrol in the jungle. He told a lot of war stories, but he'd never shared that one until his son's play. He also recalled a tiger he'd seen once in the Memphis zoo.

VanHoozer asked his father, if he'd had the chance, which one he would have touched.

The wild tiger, his father said, "because it was alive."