Anna in the Tropics

With Anna in the Tropics, Cuban-born Nilo Cruz became the first Hispanic playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The play is set in a 1929 Cuban-American cigar factory where cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are employed to educate and entertain the workers. The arrival of a new lector is 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 cast features Jimmy Smits as the lector, with Vanessa Aspillaga, Priscilla Lopez, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and David Zayas.

There are no Sunday evening performances on September 14 or October 19.