Anna in the Tropics

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, Anna in the Tropics is set in Ybor City (Tampa) in 1929 in a Cuban-American factory where cigars are still rolled by hand. The factory owner’s family awaits the arrival of a new “lector,” who is hired to read to the workers for their education and entertainment. His arrival is cause for celebration, but when the lector begins reading Anna Karenina, the passionate, frustrated lives of the characters in the book begin to parallel those of the listeners, leading to jealousy, betrayal, and sexual awakening.