Nilo Cruz
To call Nilo Cruz a Florida native may be going a bit too far, but it would be fair to say that he is a Floridian. Cruz, an author of several plays, a Pulitzer Prize Winner and a recipient of a Tony Award nomination, will be returning to Florida for his new play, Hurricane. The play contains many of the same themes that are present in his other plays that speak of the Cuban-American experience of journey and displacement.
Cruz came to America from Cuba as a young boy of ten. His family settled in “Little Havana” in Miami and Cruz studied theater at Miami-Dade Community College. He later moved to New York and then received his M.F.A. in 1994 from Brown University. In 2001, he served at the playwright-in-residence for the New Theatre in Coral Gables, FL, where he wrote Anna in the Tropics, winner of the 2003 Putitzer Prize in Drama and the Steinberg Award for Best New Play as well as recipient of the 2004 Tony Award nomination. His decision to premiere Hurricane at the Ringling International Arts Festival is a testament to how influential the Festival has become.
The play tells the story of how a severe tropical storm displaces a family and their struggle to reconstruct their lives. The play is rooted in many of the same challenges that have faced characters from previous plays, namely struggle, failure and triumph against extreme adversity. Christine Dolen of the Miami Herald says that Anna in the Tropics is a “passionate, explosive tender play, one filled with Cruz’s evocative imagery, language that almost seems tactile.” We look forward to Hurricane being more of the same!
You can purchase tickets for Hurricane by calling the box office at (800)660-4278 or visiting our website. Hurricane is also part of the Night Of Premieres celebration on October 13 which includes a pre-performance toast and post-performance gala. Tickets for the Night of Premieres can also be purchased by the box office at (800)660-4278 or visiting our website.
Imagine that you had the challenge of captivating an audience of astronauts by telling them the story of Apollo 11… with only your hands. You could not speak. There was no backdrop, no theater lights. There was only music, narration, a table and you. Could you do it? Andrew Dawson has done it, and the astronauts gave him a standing ovation.
