ANA EN EL TRÓPICO
[Anna in the Tropics]
Winner of the 2003 Pulitizer Prize for Drama
Written by Nilo Cruz

In this beguiling story set in a Cuban-American cigar factory in 1929 Florida, cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are employed to educate and entertain the workers. The arrival of a new lector is a cause for celebration, but when he begins to read aloud from Anna Karenina, he unwittingly becomes a catalyst in the lives of his avid listeners, for whom Tolstoy, the tropics and the American dream prove a volatile combination. "The words of Nilo Cruz waft from the stage like a scented breeze. They sparkle and prickle and swirl, enveloping those who listen ... in timeless passions that touch us all." (Miami Herald)

REVIEWS & COMMENTS
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‘Ana en el Trópico’ Blends Language, Culture and High-Quality Actors
By Katie Smith
The Lake Oswego Review, Mar 3, 2011

Not many plays can fully commandeer the attention of two teenagers at any given time, much less on a Friday night. “Ana en el Trópico” (Anna in the Tropics), a Spanish play running through March 5 at the Miracle Theater in Portland, did just that. By itself, “Ana en el Trópico” is an incredibly moving play.

Written by Nilo Cruz, in 2003 “Ana en el Trópico” won a Pulitzer prize for its moving portrayal of the arrival and ensuing chaos of a lector and his reading of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina in a Cuban-American cigar factory. As the lector progresses through the novel, his story parallels and becomes a catalyst in the lives of the immigrant family operating the cigar factory.

From the beginning, it was clear that the play was masterfully written. The thought provoking storyline drew the audience in, whether their understanding came from the spoken Spanish, English subtitles projected above the compact stage or the actor’s physical comedy.

The main thing that struck me was how expressive all of the actors were. The physicality each actor utilized created the feeling that each audience member was being personally played towards; that “Ana en el Trópico” was a play put on for each individual. Their clear dedication to their parts elevated this production from an enjoyable way to pass time to a truly spectacular and moving performance.

“Ana en el Trópico” has roots in Lake Oswego – it was directed by Christy Drogosch, who also teaches Spanish at Riverdale High School. Her orchestration of “Ana en el Trópico” allowed for even those who are not fluent Spanish speakers to understand and connect with Cruz’s play, which was funded partially by the Oregon Cultural Trust.

“Ana en el Trópico” seamlessly melded Tolstoy’s classic novel with the convoluted lives of the Cuban-American cigar factory workers. The simple set, vivacity of the actors and compelling dialogue combined and created a truly memorable performance.

Sharon Lee
My husband and I loved the production on Sunday.  I was especially impressed at how you interwove the Anna by Tolstoy into this hotbed of tension and secrets in the cigar factory.  How very real and frail we humans are with our passions and struggles .  The acting was superb, the staging so very creative. 
THis was the second of the season to which we are subrcribers.  Looking forward to the next two. I am not a computer, facebook, blog or internet skilled. ( And don't want to be) but I took plenty of borchures, cards etc., to pass out to my Spanish Teacher and class in Washougal WA Community Education.  WE ma;y want to a group attendance at one of the upcoming productions. 
I will be subscribing again next year as well as contribute as I can. Thank you

Peter S.
Terrific show, one of the best I've seen Milagro do, and I've seen some good ones. Uniformly strong performances, beautuifully written play (and more double entendres than The Big Sleep). Thanks to all concerned.

Susanna
I thought the play was amazing.  The actors did an excellent job.  I really liked the simplicity of the set.  I am looking forward to attending another production. Thank you.

Kelsey Cleveland
Thank you so much for the tickets to ANA EN EL TRÓPICO. I was very impressed with the production. The acting was superb. As a non Spanish speaker, I thought it was clever how the set was designed with the space on which to project the subtitles. I also loved the intimacy of the performance space.

Susan McKee Reese
Who wouldn't want Enrique Andrade as their Lector?! His voice seduces the audience as the taste of the factory's new cigar, the "Anna Karenina" seduces its afficionado, with hints of cedar and mango. It is perfect casting, and Milagro has... followed through with its other players just as insightfully, with favorites from past performances and new faces, blended as skillfully as Tolstoy, Cuba and Florida in this delightful, moving play. Part history, all love story, the audience loses itself to possibility, tragedy and love so believable that, when the women awaited the Lector's boat, I kept forgetting and looking into the audience for a glimpse of it myself. See it if you can. See anything at Milagro, if you can.

Tyler Andrew Jones
Such a beautiful show guys!! I'm so happy I got to catch it! BOOM has some big shoes to fill!

Maureen and Bruce Coorpender - 2/13/11
We loved it!  Thought it was the best production ever by Milagro.  Everything was perfect.  Thank you, thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon on a cold, rainy day.

Theater review: Ana en el Tropico offers appealing blend
Sunday, February 13, 2011
By Michael McGregor, Special to The Oregonian

Miracle Theatre's Spanish-language production of "Ana en el Tropico" offers that elusive element you always hope for in theater: an ideal blending of company, cast and script.

With its worn, cozy feel and enthusiastic audience of Spanish speakers, Miracle's playhouse seems tailor-made for Nilo Cruz's tale of passion unleashed in a cigar-rolling factory in 1929 Tampa.  And the seamless ensemble director Christy Drogosch has assembled saturates both space and script with romance and energy.

Cruz won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama -- the first Latino to do so -- for his story of Cuban-Americans caught between the traditional ways of the island they came from and the machine-driven modernity of their adopted home.  His script is more than a reminder that Cuban exiles were active in America long before Castro took power, however. With its lush, metaphorical language and rich sensory detail, it paints a romantic picture of the immigrant experience, hovering between passionate hope and crushing realism.

In Miracle's version, Enrique E. Andrade (who supplies the Spanish voice on Portland's MAX trains) plays Juan Julian, a reader -- or lector, as this kind of figure was once called -- hired to entertain the cigar-rollers as they go about their monotonous task.  The previous lector in this particular factory was old but Juan Julian is young and attractive and the book he chooses to read, Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, about an adulterous affair, brings out the various yearnings and fears in the factory's workers and owners.

Affairs and spurnings, jealousy and violence, the sparking and rekindling of love all ensue. In the midst of them, the workers and owners struggle to find their way, individually and collectively, in a world where older approaches and passions are losing out to progress and cold efficiency.

One of the play's real strengths is how fully it conveys the varieties of passion and romance available to people of different ages and temperaments. A scene in which an older couple finds its way from rancor to tenderness feels as full of emotional possibilities as one in which younger people engage in lustful, illicit sex.

A simple backdrop of sunlit blinds and a brick wall, a few cigar-strewn tables and well-designed lighting are all it takes to evoke the heat and the smell of tobacco on the small Miracle stage. Drogosch uses the tight space well, maintaining a brisk pace by keeping her actors moving and having them deliver their lines at a crisp speed.

Chatting with playwright, Nilo Cruz, author of Ana en el trópico

JK: What was your inspiration for writing Anna in the Tropics? 
NC: When I learned that there was a tradition in cigar factories of hiring someone to read from novels and newspapers, I knew I wanted to write about it. Also, I was always intrigued by the art on cigar boxes. Many cigars are named after romantic love stories, and the boxes have intricate pictures on them that are quite beautiful. At first, I thought I was going to write a play set in the late 1800s. At that time, lectors were instrumental in the cigar factories. Cuba's leader, José Martí, came to Tampa and read to the workers. He formed a brigade of workers that went to Cuba to fight for its independence. Then I thought such a historical account would be too complicated. I wanted to concentrate on the role of the lector in the factories. I decided to write about possibly the last lector in Tampa. The lectors were the first to be fired when the Depression began, so I set the play in 1929.

Did you research the history of Tampa cigar workers? 
I was awarded a residency at the New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida through Theatre Communications Group. Part of the grant allowed me to travel to Tampa for research, but I decided not to go there. I didn't want to be influenced by how changed the environment was. It's very commercial now. In Ybor City, the cigar factories have been turned into bars and restaurants. I decided I should imagine it. I looked at photographs and read books about the unionization of the factories. The Tampa workers were controversial because they wanted to hold on to a tradition. They wanted to continue to roll cigars by hand. They didn't want the machines. It was the end of an era.

Why did you choose Anna Karenina? 
I guess I could have chosen a novel that was set in the 1920s or had a Hispanic theme and author. In the 1920s, however, many of the lectors were socialists. The Communist Manifesto had been read in many of the factories. So, I thought they would have an interest in anything that came from Russia. I also wanted a romantic novel. I chose Anna Karenina, rather than War and Peace, because I thought it fit the aesthetic of cigar boxes.

Anna Karenina has a life-changing impact on each of the characters in your play. Had you read Anna Karenina previously? 
I hadn't finished it, so I had to reread the novel as I was working on the play. I started to read it through the eyes of my characters. I don't usually like to write in books, but I found myself jotting down notes in the margins. Once I discovered which book was going to be read by the lector, the whole play came to me. I started to explore how the characters were influenced by the story. For instance, I thought about why Conchita would be so interested in the novel. How was her experience of the book different than Marela's? Then I realized that her husband, Palomo, was having an affair. That was a surprise to me. I didn't know anything about the love story in the play until I read Anna Karenina.

Ana en el trópico opens at Miracle Theatre on Feb. 11, and runs through March 5, 2011. Performances will be entirely in Spanish, with easy-to-follow English supertitles. Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Sundays at 2 p.m. There is one preview performance at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 10. Opening night is Friday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m. and features a complimentary post-play reception catered by La Bamba. Tickets can be purchased from the Miracle Theatre website or by calling 503-236-7253, weekdays 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

February 11-March 5, 2011
Presented in Spanish with easy-to-follow supertitles in English

Sponsored by

CAST
Castillo Morales … Santiago
Nurys Herrera … Conchita
Sofia May-Cuxim … Ofelia
Jorge Madrid … Cheche
Enrique E. Andrade   Juan Julian
CarlosAlexis Cruz … Palomo
Seanya Partrana …  Marela

PRODUCTION TEAM
Christy Drogosch … Director
Peter West … Lighting Designer
Hal Logan … Sound Designer
Marychris Mass … Costume Designer
Deanna Zibello … Scenic Designer
Sarah Lydecker … Props Master/Assistant Scenic Designer
Gavin Hales … Stage Manager
Andrew Phoenix … Master Carpenter
Nana Nash … Projectionist
Ann Singer … Sound Board Operator
Samuel Trevino … Artcard Artist
Sylvia Malán, Sarah Hinds and Daniel Moreno … House Managers
Olga Sanchez … Artistic Director
Estela Robinson … Production Assistant
José E. González … Executive Director

Nilo Cruz (Playwright) was born in Cuba in 1960, and during his early childhood, his father, who was a staunch opponent of the communist government, was imprisoned for trying to flee the country.  After his father finished serving his sentence, when Nilo was nine years old, the family immigrated to the U.S. and took up residency in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. He began exploring his interest in theater by acting and directing in the early 1980s.  Before moving to New York, he studied theatre at Miami Dade Community College.  In New York, he met fellow Cuban Marìa Irene Fornès, who recommended him to an instructor at Brown University. Eventually he attended Brown and earned his M.F.A. in 1994. He returned to Florida in 2001 where he was appointed as the playwright-in-residence for the New Theatre in Coral Gables. The following year, in 2002, he wrote his most famous work, Anna in the Tropics.  This work was a great success and was performed in theatres across the country.  After learning that he had won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Cruz said, “By honoring my play Anna in the Tropics, the first Latino play to earn the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, the Pulitzer Prize Board is not only embracing my work as an artist, but is actually acknowledging and securing a place for Latino plays in the North American theatre” (Quoted in an article in the New Theatre). After winning this award, Anna in the Tropics opened on Broadway, with continuing success, and was even nominated for a Tony Award in 2004. In addition to composing these works, Cruz has taught drama at many universities, including Brown, Yale, and theUniversity of Iowa. Through his work, Cruz has become one of the most revered playwrights of our time. His introduction of Latino themed plays into mainstream American theater has set the stage for playwrights and authors to come.