Anna in the Tropics

Anna in the Tropics, Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning romantic drama, is set in the oppressive heat of a 1920s South Florida cigar factory, where cigar makers struggle to preserve their tradition in the face of impending modernity and mechanization. Pride and passions are already running high when a dashing Cuban lector is hired to read Tolstoy’s passionate love story, Anna Karenina, to the cutters, bunchers, and rollers. His presence ignites potent and painful fires inside a young dreamer, a forgotten wife, and a rejected husband. Playwright Nilo Cruz subtly interweaves the two stories until they echo one another in a heady mix of love and betrayal. Amy Gonzalez directs.