''Anna in the Tropics'' is a play by

Nilo Cruz Nilo Cruz is a Cuban-American playwright and pedagogue. With his award of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play '' Anna in the Tropics'', he became the second Latino so honored, after Nicholas Dante. Biography Early years Cruz was bor ...

. It won the 2003

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

Plot

The play is set in

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...

, a section of

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

and the center of the

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

industry. When

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n immigrants brought the cigar-making industry to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the 20th century, they carried with them another tradition. As the workers toiled away in the factory hand rolling each cigar, the

lector Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as french: lecteur, en, lector, pl, lektor and russian: лектор. It has various specialized uses. ...

, historically well-dressed and well-spoken, would read to them. It was the lector who informed, organized and entertained the workers until the 1930s, when the rollers and the readers were replaced by

mechanization Mechanization is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery. In an early engineering text a machine is defined as follows: In some fields, mechanization includes the ...

. In the play, the lector reads ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writt ...

'', sparking the characters' lives and relationships to spin out of control.

Characters

*Santiago, owner of a cigar factory, late 50s *Cheché, his half-brother, half-Cuban, half-American, early 40s *Ofelia, Santiago's wife, 50s *Marela, Ofelia and Santiago's daughter, 22 *Conchita, her sister, 32 *Palomo, her husband, 41 *Juan Julián, the lector, 38 *Elíades, local gamester, runs cockfights, 40s

Productions

''Anna in the Tropics'' was commissioned and originally produced by New Theatre, Miami, Florida, Rafael del Acha, Artistic Director, Eileen Suarez, Managing Director, in 2002 with support from the NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights. The

South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory (SCR) is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California. Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson, is led by Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Direc ...

presented the play on its Julianne Argyros Stage. It ran from 28 September to 19 October 2003. Directed by Juliette Carrillo, the cast included Jonathan Nichols (Eliades/Palomo),

Tony Plana José Antonio Plana (born April 19, 1952) is a Cuban actor and director. He is known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC television show ''Ugly Betty'' and for voicing Manuel "Manny" Calavera in the video game ''Grim ...

(Santiago), Geoffrey Rivas (Cheché), Onahoua Rodriguez (Marela), Adriana Sevan (Conchita), Karmín Murcelo (Ofelia) and Julian Acosta (Juan Julian). The play started performances on Broadway at the

Royale Theatre The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 242 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the thea ...

on November 4, 2003, opening on November 16th. Directed by Emily Mann, the cast included

Jimmy Smits Jimmy L. Smits (born July 9, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for playing attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s-1990s legal drama '' L.A. Law'', NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s-2000s police drama ''NYPD Blue'', Matt Santos ...

(Juan Julian),

Priscilla Lopez Priscilla Lopez (born February 26, 1948) is an American singer, dancer, and actress. She is perhaps best known for creating the role of Diana Morales in ''A Chorus Line''. She has had the distinction of appearing in two Broadway landmarks: one o ...

(Ofelia),

Daphne Rubin-Vega Daphne Rubin-Vega ( Vega; born November 18, 1969) is a Panamanian-American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is best known for originating the roles of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical ''Rent'' and Lucy in the Off-Broadway play ''J ...

(Conchita), Victor Argo (Santiago), Vanessa Aspilaga (Marela), John Ortiz (Eliades/Palomo) and David Zayas (Cheché). The play closed on February 22, 2004, after 15 previews and 113 performances The first U.S. national tour starting in September 2004 and ending in February of 2005 was a co-production between

Dallas Theater Center The Dallas Theater Center is a major regional theater in Dallas, Texas, United States. It produces classic, contemporary and new plays and was the 2017 Tony Award recipient for Best Regional Theater. Dallas Theater Center produces its original w ...

Arizona Theatre Company Arizona Theatre Company is a non-profit, professional regional theatre company operating in both Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. It performs a season of six productions at two theatres—the only League of Resident Theatres member to do so—at the Te ...

, and

Pasadena Playhouse The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California, United States. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engage ...

. Directed by

Richard Hamburger Richard Hamburger (born 1951) is an American theater director. He has directed an extensive range of plays in theaters nationwide, and from 1987 to 1992 was Artistic Director of the Portland Stage Company before being named the first Artistic Di ...

, the cast included Al Espinosa (Juan Julián), Jacqueline Duprey (Conchita), Timothy Paul Perez (Eliades/Palomo), Apollo Dukakis (Santiago), Javi Mulero (Cheché), Adriana Gaviria (Marela), and Karmín Murcelo (Ofelia).

L.A. Theatre Works L.A. Theatre Works (LATW) is a not-for-profit American media arts organization based in Los Angeles founded in 1984. The intent of the organization is to produce, preserve, and distribute classic and contemporary plays of significance. Along with i ...

presented ''Anna in the Tropics'' as part of its 2004–2005 season. Directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, the cast included

, Onahoua Rodriguez, Adriana Sevan, Jonathan Nichols, Winston Rocha, and Herbert Siguenza. On September 16, 2005 and translated as ''Ana en el trópico'', the Spanish version opened in Madrid at the

Teatro Alcázar Teatro Alcázar is a theatre located in Madrid, Spain. Designed by Eduardo Sánchez Eznarriaga, it is located on the Calle de Alcala. It was founded in 1925, with the first performance occurring on 27 January with the operetta ''Madame Pompadour'' ...

and was directed by

himself. The cast included: Luis Fernando Alvés (Palomo/Elíades), Joan Crosas (Santiago), José Pedro Carrión (Cheché),

Toni Acosta Antonia del Carmen Acosta León (born 10 April 1972), better known as Toni Acosta, is a Spanish actress. Biography Antonia del Carmen Acosta León was born in San Cristóbal de la Laguna (in the island of Tenerife) on 10 April 1972. Her paren ...

(Marela),

Lolita Flores María Dolores González Flores (born 6 May 1958), better known as Lolita Flores, is a Spanish actress and singer. Biography Lolita Flores is the daughter of Lola Flores and Antonio González, sister of Antonio Flores and Rosario Flores. S ...

(Chonchita), Teresa María Rojas (Ofelia), Pablo Duran (Juan Julián), Itziar Arza, Alfonso Ramos and Marian Sanz de Acedo (cigarreras/os). The play was presented in the UK at the

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

in London. Directed by Indra Rubasingham, it ran from 30 November 2005 to 15 January 2006. The cast included Diana Quick, Rachael Stirling and Joseph Mydell. Due to the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, Repertory Philippines' production of "Anna in the Tropics" closed on March 13, 2020 after two previews. The production was designed and directed by Joey Mendoza.

Recognition

''Anna in the Tropics'' was widely regarded as a "long shot" for the 2003

, mainly because it had not been seen in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The play premiered at the New Theatre in

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the ...

and had to compete with

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...

's ''

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? ''The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?'' is a full-length play written in 2000 by Edward Albee which opened on Broadway in 2002. It won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and was a finalist for the 2003 Pu ...

'' and

Richard Greenberg Richard Greenberg (born February 22, 1958) is an American playwright and television writer known for his subversively humorous depictions of middle-class American life. He has had more than 25 plays premiere on and Off-Broadway in New York City ...

's '' Take Me Out'' for the coveted award. Cruz, a Cuban-born playwright living in New York, remarked,

It's wonderful. I cannot believe it. The other day I went to the bookstore and I saw a book by William Kennedy. He won the Pulitzer for '' Ironweed'', which I adore. I was standing there looking at his books and thinking how amazing it was that this writer won a Pulitzer, and now I've been given one, too. I think I'm still in shock. I haven't completely acknowledged the grandness of the award.

His past works, such as '' Two Sisters and a Piano'', have earned him a reputation for writing lyrical, atmospheric plays with powerful emotions and language. ''Anna in the Tropics'' was honored with two nominations at the 2004

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

s. The show was nominated in the category of Best Play and Best Featured Actress in a Play (

)

Film adaptation

The ''Hollywood Reporter'' reports that Academy Award nominee,

Lee Daniels Lee Daniels (born December 24, 1959) is an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter. His first producer credit was ''Monster's Ball'' (2001), for which Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making Daniels ...

('' Precious'') has signed on to develop a film based on the play—which is being produced by Mankind Entertainment.

References

External links

* (2003 production) *
''Anna in the Tropics''
at

''Anna in the Tropics''
a
L.A. Theatre Works
which offered an audio broadcast version in September 2007 as part of its ''Play's the Thing'' series
Long Beach Shakespeare Company produced Anna in the Tropics, Directed by Denis McCourt April/May 2011
* {{Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2001-2025 American plays Pulitzer Prize for Drama-winning works Hispanic and Latino American plays Broadway plays Works based on literary characters Plays set in Florida Cuban-American literature Tampa, Florida in fiction