How Mary Zimmerman Handled Kipling’s Racism and Misogyny in a New The Jungle Book Musical

www.chicagomag.com: Director and playwright Mary Zimmerman has been hard at work adapting The Jungle Book for the stage at the Goodman Theatre (June 21 to August 4). She's already shared how she went about creating the new musical, but she also took some time to answer how she reconciled some of the story's more controversial aspects. You spent a lot of time researching Rudyard Kipling before adapting the musical. What did you think of the man, especially his politics in regards to India? Kipling’s politics are pretty terrible and pretty undeniable. One thing I learned though, he came by them honestly. His parents left him at age 8, he and sister were left at a facility where both were systematically abused. He’s written about this in his autobiography.