Iraqi actor Ahmed Moneka came to Toronto in 2015 and couldn’t go home. Now he’s on stage in ‘Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo’

Iraqi actor Ahmed Moneka first came to Toronto in September 2015 for a brief visit. A short film he cocreated and starred in, “The Society,” was having its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, after which it would screen at other important festivals including Cannes.

He’s been here ever since.

The content of “The Society” was risky: it’s about two gay men who keep their relationship secret in contemporary Baghdad, shining a light on the persecution of homosexuals there.

“No one was talking about these things, not even in the gay community, because they were very scared,” Moneka said. While he was at TIFF, the Iraqi militia made threats against his life. “They had heard that I was here in Canada doing the screening of a film talking against the militia,” he said. “They told my father they wanted to cut my body into pieces at the airport.”

With one suitcase and no English, Moneka sought asylum in Canada. Seven years later, his feet are fully on the ground in Toronto, with a burgeoning artistic career and a growing family. This fall Moneka marks a professional milestone by playing a major role at a Toronto theatre — one in which he brings his life experience to bear.

In “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” at Crow’s Theatre, Moneka plays an Iraqi man who works as a translator for American troops during the Iraq War.

“I was there,” said Moneka, who was a child in 2003 when an American-led coalition invaded his country. “I was listening to the bombs, I was seeing the disaster after this war. I witnessed how the American vision was destroying. Not just Saddam (Hussein), destroying all of us, destroying the infrastructure of the city.” He believes the play “is really honouring the Iraqi people, and that’s why as an Iraqi, I was so eager to do this.”

Director Rouvan Silogix said that Moneka’s connection to the material enhances his performance and the production as a whole. “Ahmed knows what it feels like to be in a city like that, when you have this ominous presence and there is no justice,” said Silogix. “No matter what you do, power is going to supersede any form of internal justice.”

Rajiv Joseph’s lauded script — it was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize — has numerous surreal elements including the titular tiger, which is played by a human (in this production, by Kristen Thomson). Moneka said that Joseph captures what his country is like.

“The reality there is not like reality here. It’s abstract reality,” he said. “I don’t know if you could say it’s spiritual or psychedelic, but it’s really mixed.”

Though he received help from organizations including the Iraqi Canadian Society, Moneka struggled in his first months in Canada: “You can’t see anything. You’re just living in your memories and trauma,” he said. “As an artist, I was really trying to figure out how to deal with my life here.”

Things started to improve when he moved from outside the city into Toronto and started to work as a musician “because it didn’t require me to speak English on the stage,” he said. He started up a multicultural band, Moskitto Bar, and also makes his own music through a project called Moneka Arabic Jazz.

He found his way into Toronto theatre with the support of Iranian-Canadian director Soheil Parsa, a key contact for immigrant artists, and by joining the Toronto Arts Council’s Newcomer and Refugee Artist Mentorship program. There, he was paired with D. Jeremy Smith, artistic director of Driftwood Theatre Group.

“Ahmed and I both knew within 10 to 15 minutes that we were really excited by each other and that this could be a really interesting pairing,” said Smith. Moneka became a Driftwood artistic associate, worked as a crew member on one of their shows and in the summer of 2019 played Puck in its production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“Ahmed moves through life with this enormous positivity and this extraordinary warmth and grace,” said Smith. “It just floors me … especially knowing what he has come through in order to be here.”

Silogix first encountered Moneka when he submitted a film script about his life story to Crow’s Theatre, where Silogix was then associate artistic director. He is now artistic director of Modern Times Stage Company, which is co-producing this show with Crow’s Theatre.

“I met him, and he’s so charismatic,” said Silogix. “It’s hard to try to ignore him.” In the “Bengal Tiger” audition process, Silogix discovered that Moneka has “really strong dramatic chops.”

Moneka is now married with a daughter. Recently, his parents and two sisters moved to Toronto. His older sister, Israa Abdul JaLeel, is working as a vocal coach on “Bengal Tiger,” helping the actors with the particular Iraqi pronunciation of the Arabic passages that appear in the otherwise English-language script. “She’s succeeded to transfer the Iraqi spirit to each one of them,” said Moneka. “I’m so proud of her.”

Their father, Salah Moneka, was a well-known actor in Iraq, and some of Ahmed’s forward plans include starting an Arabic-language theatre company in Toronto, so actors, including his dad, will have opportunities to perform.

He’s also committed to continuing his work as a musician, which celebrates his family’s African heritage: their forebears came to Iraq from Mombasa, Kenya in the seventh century. “Black Iraqis, we have a connection with our ancestors” through singing traditional spirituals, said Moneka. “This process is also healing for everyone in the room.”

While Moneka’s story overall is a happy one of welcome and transformation, he’s had recent experiences which have not been positive. He became a Canadian citizen in February. Two times since, when returning from travel abroad, he was flagged by Canadian Border Services for extra questioning.

“I was coming back from Colombia where I’d been invited to meet the ambassador in the embassy. And among 12 artists coming home, I’m the only one who’s sent to immigration,” he said. “I asked them, is it my name? Is it that I was born in Iraq? Or is it that I am Black? The system is racist or the system is stupid, you choose.”

“When I travel outside of Canada, I’m received as Canadian, but coming back home, they don’t receive me as Canadian,” he said.

Despite these challenges, having so many family members near him is helping Moneka thrive. “We come from a very rich family in terms of spirituality and connection,” he said. “When you connect with your root, you become a tree.”

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” plays at Crow’s Theatre Oct. 11-Nov. 6. https://www.crowstheatre.com and 647-341-7390 ext. 1010

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