by Nilo Cruz

The 2003 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama

Amanda Cohen-Esteves’ Senior Directing Thesis

Dec. 6th at 7pm Dec. 7th at 7pm and 11pm Dec. 8th at 7pm Studio One, Walgreen Drama Center 1226 Murfin Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1212 Free Admission

Presented by The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance's Department of Theatre and Drama

In conjunction with Cuba Double Week University of Michigan Special Thanks to... Anna in the Tropics Professor Ruth Behar Basement Arts Professor Lawrence Fountain- Jon Manganello By Nilo Cruz Stokes Taylor Norton Professor Maria Cotera Dan Tracy Jennifer Garcia-Peacock Rich Lindsay Production Team Professor Malcolm Tulip Lauri Alvarez Theater and Drama Faculty Kyle Bassett Ms. Vera Garcia Director Amanda Cohen-Esteves Jack Kenny Elena Garcia Assistant Director Flores Komatsu Frita Batidos Jessica Hahn Dramaturge Levi Stroud Sarah St. John Frida Batidos Dialect Coach Aimee Garcia Maria Esteves Stage Manager Angela Alvarez Paul Sullivan Rob Murphy Assistant Stage Manager Jessica Browning Dewey Sinclair Becca Kephart Scenic Designer Lucy Briggs Arthur Ridley Ben Murray Costume Designer Sarah Korn Professor Annette Mason Cuba Double Week Props Designer Emma Gebhard Ed Shock and the Shock Family Cookie Salazar Costume and Props Kristi Weighman The Performance Network Coordinator The ReUse Center Composer/Sound Clay Gonzalez Designer Co-Lighting Designer Yemisi Odetoyinbo Co-Lighting Designer Liz Williams Media Coordinator Mitchell Schneider Graphic Designer Sarah Fogel Sound Engineers Peter Leonard Jarrett Floyd Dylan Sundberd About the Play BFA Senior Directing Thesis Cast The Author Nilo Cruz, whose plays include Two Sisters and a Piano, Lorca in a Green (In Order of Appearance) Dress, Night Train to Bolina, A Bicycle Country, and Dancing on Her Knees, is one of the countryʼs most produced Cuban-American writers. His work has been produced at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, The Eliades Flores Komatsu Joseph Papp Public Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre and the New Santiago Joseph McDonald Theatre in Coral Gables. An alumnus of New Dramatists, Cruz has taught playwriting at Brown and Yale universities. He is the recipient of numer- Cheché Graham Techler ous awards including the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Alton Jones Ofelia Alex DeMaio Award and the Kesselring Prize. Marela Regan Moro The Culture Conchita Tina Munoz-Pandya Itʼs 1929, Ybor City, Florida. Though we are in the U.S., itʼs almost as if Palomo Elliot Cruz Juan Julian Tristan Rewald of tobacco hangs in the air. We see the Cuban customs—the fast syllables and loud words. This is a pocket of the country in which Cuban culture is Peppino Mellini, Kevin Douglass greatly alive and the Cuban cigar industry is the force that keeps its heart Understudy to Juan beating. The streets are lined with factories packed with Cuban-Ameri- Julian/Palomo cans. As they work, they conserve their Cuban culture, rolling cigars by hand in a traditional fashion and enjoying the Cuban custom of listening Manola, Understudy to Danielle Boivin to a lector—a man they themselves selected to read news and literature Conchita/Marela to them, educating the illiterate workers on their world. Life is hot and Pascual Torino, still as the words of the lector spice the stage. Understudy to Santiago/ But change is beginning to shake the foundations of this city. Change Cheche threatens the conservation of the Cuban culture as modernity further grips the United States with towering factories that produce materials at lightening speed—machines replacing workers and assembly lines replacing specialists. Fast paced producing and consuming is now the There will be a 15 minute intermission. American culture with no slowing down for traditions. Running time: 105 minutes.

In this setting, the play focuses on the struggle of characters to conserve their way of life—both personal and communal. But can these Cuban- Americans keep their immigrant traditions alive as the country melts into Act 1 fast consumerism? Or will they be forced to modernize? Will technology Tampa, Florida, Summer of 1929. replace hands, and will the dominating thump of machinery and the call for faster, cheaper production completely erase the voice of the lector? Act 2 One Month Later Set shortly before the start of the Great Depression, we see these char- . acters in an incredibly vulnerable state. Times are changing—what will come of them?

- Levi Stroud, Dramaturge Run Crew Directorʼs Note

“I am only interested in love” Florentino Ariza states in Love in Running Crew Head Jessica Browning the Time of Cholera. I believe that the most compelling stories center Costume & Hair/ Kristi Weighman around love, and that may be my main drive in choosing this play as my Makeup Head senior directing thesis. Just as the character Conchita says in the play, “I am learning many things from [Anna Karenina],” so too have I learned Props Head Danielle Kyser many things from Anna in the Tropics. One major idea being that im- Sound Board Operator Nadine Dyskant-Miller studying. Conchita says to her husband Palomo, “I still love and desire you just the same.” She still loves him as much as the day she fell in love with him, even after years of marriage. She loves him not “in despite” of his numerous faults, but rather by embracing every part of him for good Musicians or bad. Itʼs an unexplainable phenomenon-- being in love with some- one that may or may not be “good” for you from societyʼs standards. Through forgiveness and redemption, this couple, like their older coun- terparts Ofelia and Santiago, are able to make compromises and learn to Libby Seidner Flute be honest and expressive with each other in order to make their relation- Nadine Dyskant-Miller Flute ship not only endure, but be better than ever before.

Rachel Rosenbaum Clarinet Love is never ever easy because all of the most important things Michael Gieske Bassoon in life take work. Love is work. Love is not the movies, the novels, the Sammy Boller Guitar fantasies. Love is the everyday stories; the couple that survive a child, the single mother trying to make ends meet for her family, the couple who Julian Bridges Percussion battle the challenge of long distance. The imperfections are there but Dylan Green Percussion they make us who we are: real. Our responsibility as theater artists is to Christina Manceor Percussion be storytellers and teachers to the greater public. They say that art mir- rors life; or perhaps, life mirrors art. I believe that both are equally true. I Maggie Starr Violin hope for everyone to leave this production with a newfound understand- Clair Niederberger Violin ing that the answers are never easy, but there is always the chance for Cassidy Goldblatt Violin redemption and “real” love. I hope for this understanding to seep into your lives, your relationships, your loves, and let it change you for the Megan Lathan Viola better. I know it has for me. Clifton Boyd Viola Kellen Degan Cello Anna in the Tropics is dedicated to the loving memory of Julia Valente De Almeida Marques Esteves, who came from Portugal, with two Isabel Kwan Cello small children, to give my mother and uncle a better life. I learned my Eva Roos Contrabass culture, tradition, and loyalty to family from her. We will always endure Sam Saunders Piano and stick together in your memory. Te amo Avoʼ.